IntentO
by Rubymoon-Faith
Summary: She is the daughter of a necromancer drow and an elf firecaster trying to deal with her ancestry and the curse she bears. A story based in the D&DBESM d20 game I am playing right now, told by my own character. Please read and review.
1. Prologue

**Author's note:** Take into account this is a D&D BESM d20 story. Anime role- playing game also includes high technology, so my DM-GM created a world combining the D&D world and an advanced planet Earth. Magic and High Tech in the same world.

**Prologue.**

Around planet Earth's year 2083 AC and planet House's 5720 lunar cycle, while in one of these planets high technology proliferated and the other one was rich in magical arts, both planets were fused together after migrating from their own galaxies to point 3S, during a phenomenon that was later called Material Dimensional Collapse. The reason is still unknown (it is said that a demon was responsible for it and that it disappeared soon after it made this happen).

This phenomenon reduced half the population of both planets due to the geological and climatological changes around 5 years A.F (After the Fusion), which were called chaos' years. These years were followed by several bloody wars that devastated the world for 500 dark years when magic and high technology confronted each other because of racial and political interests.

Around year 537 A.F, during the climax of the Great War that preceded the planet's total destruction, a mysterious figure appeared and scattered both of the conflict's axis. This figure was later proclaimed king Vinscent von Frederich, and he ruled with magnificent justice and benevolence. This unification period, known as the 50 resurrection years, were acclaimed as the best government in history, but the actual government (which overthrew the king with a coalition formed under unknown circumstances) put a veto on this part of history.

The coalition readopted the democratic capitalist regimen and divided itself into federations with independent governments, guided by the Federal Parliamentary Nation, which is the political capital of the world. After 365 years in a world of constant modernization, with a very jealously guarded resurgence of magic and high technology, education is still a privilege that belongs only to the rich and the gifted.

Now, the State has allowed the building of a complex superior education structure, open and public. This project, proposed 10 years ago by multimillionaire philanthropist Ian Strauss, has opened three campuses (A/N: Sorry if I didn't write it right, take into account that I am not used to write in English anymore) by the name of Von Frederich. Nowadays, these campuses are working in hundreds of different projects for the New World's benefit, also becoming home of the new resurrection.


	2. Chapter 1: Gea

**Chapter 1: Gea.**

Days are never good at Ionescu, at least for me or for my mother since I was born or, may I say, when she decided that she "loved" my father?

My father... That is a part of my life I would not rather talk about. Anyway, if I am going to tell all of you my story, I guess I will have to talk about him at some point so, I'd better do it now.

Achernar Kihlstrom was an evil dark elf... a necromancer, and Siren Litvkah was a firecaster who belonged to the Fire Circle (some sort of organization of firecasters).

For years, Achernar had been looking for a disciple, someone with enough power and willing to learn how to control the dark arts; when he met Siren, he knew she was the one he had been looking for.

It did not seem any easy to turn someone like Siren to the dark side, but Achernar had his means to get what he wanted: He gave her power, lots of power, and control over that power (and, by the way, over everything else)... The awful thing about power is that it corrupts people, and they end up becoming addict to it, and that is exactly what happened to Siren.

Anyway, Siren became Achernar's disciple, but one day she decided to leave it all... She was pregnant and, for her kid's sake, she had to leave Achernar (that was definitely not the kind of life she wanted for her son or daughter). But Achernar did not like that at all. He had finally got everything he wanted: a powerful disciple and a child to follow his steps... She would not take that away from him without paying for it!

He warned her: if she dared to leave him, he would curse the creature inside her. And so it was...

I apologize if I have not introduced myself yet; I always do that: I begin to talk and I can keep that way for hours, not even realizing that the people I am talking to don't even know my name.

My name is Gea Litvkah and though I was born two hundred and fifteen years ago, the invisible scar of the curse I bear is still as recent as it was when I was born and that awful curse is the only thing that keeps me away from becoming a firecaster like my mother... You see, when my mother left my father, he casted this spell that transferred part of necromancy to me. Now, I have to be very careful since those terrible powers may come out anytime with all their strength, which I cannot control. At least I have a small clue of when they are going to appear, because an unbearable pain in the lower abdomen always precedes their appearance.

Obviously, the Fire Circle would not want someone like me to join them, considering my curse, my ancestry and that they expelled my mother when she got involved with my father. I do not blame them. No one wants me close anyway.

My mother used to tell me that people always fear what they cannot understand, that the people of Ionescu cannot conceive the idea of the daughter of a dark elf (or worst, a necromancer dark elf) not having some sort of the same dirty blood running through her veins.

I hate Ionescu and the silly people that live here! I am tired of trying to make them understand that if I have some sort of necromancy inside me it is not my fault, I never asked for it! And I AM NOT A DARK ELF! Well, just look at me! I have my mother's beautiful, straight, copper-colored hair and blue-green eyes, and maybe my skin is a little bit darker than that of many elves, but it does not have the horrible grayish color of a dark elf's skin. But they are just narrow-minded. They keep looking at me with their eyes filled with hatred and fear; they still avoid walking next to me in the streets and they keep saying that someday (as by some kind of magic or miracle, I still do not know yet), I am going to turn into a complete dark elf. Oh, please! Honestly, don't they have better things to do than bothering two elves who are just trying to live a peaceful, normal life (as normal as possible)? No, I guess they do not.

I am sick and tired of this little town, lost in the middle of nowhere! Sometimes I wish I could see what lies beyond the forest that surrounds Ionescu, maybe visit the great city that travelers always talk about when they pass by... So full of mysteries, magic and high technology, a real mixture of the best things planet Earth and planet House had before the fusion... But that is nothing but a dream. I cannot leave Ionescu and I know it. I cannot leave without my mother, and she refuses to leave Ionescu for she fears that my father is still wandering out there, waiting for us, to regain what he lost when she left him.

She does not understand, either. I have tried to tell her that this place is not safe anymore, but she just won't listen; she just says that hearing what the people in this horrible town think about me has driven me paranoid, fearful of everyone and everything that surrounds me. She just does not understand what it feels like to feel someone is watching every single movement she makes everyday, hiding inside the depths of the forest. Everything I can do is wait for her to realize it before it is too late.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it, though it was a very short chapter. Chapter two is coming up soon and it is a little bit longer.

Please review.

Bye.

_Ruby._


	3. Chapter 2: The party of eight: Secrets

_For my friend Meli, whose _

_birthday we celebrated _

_last Saturday. Well, Meli, _

_as every year since we met,_

_this year you also get a part _

_of one of my stories as a birthday present. _

_Let's hope this one has an ending... _

Hello! Welcome to a new chapter of my little story. I am really happy! I have got more reviews than I got in the first story I uploaded! You know that reviews are what keep a good story going and help to correct the little mistakes we make so, before I start, I want to thank you for your reviews:

**Meli Volio: **Congratulations, Meli! You were really the first one to review my story. Thanks for reading all my stories, specially this one, since I know I'm like the only one in our whole group who's ever played a role-playing game and maybe you won't understand many of the things I write about in here. Keep reading and enjoying this one. And... If you need me to explain something, just tell me.

**Sara Blackburn: **Hey, girl! Your English is not that terrible, you wrote everything correctly (almost) and I understood everything you wanted to say. Next time, you can write your review in Spanish, if you want to (Meli did that)  Take your time to read it slowly, or ask me or Geo what it says... Thanks for the review and please tell Ana not to kill me... I will finish Dime que No's second chapter soon, as soon as we get together for you to help me finish some details...

**DemonDragonJ: **Yes, I've noticed you're a great D&D fan... I guess everyone who's ever played even once becomes a fan... My friends say it is addictive. Thank you for your review and for the explanation of what I hadn't understand in your story. I hope you enjoy the chapters that follow! Keep on with your great work and I'll keep on with mine! Maybe some day we can work together...

**KumoAmeYouKAI: **Thanks for both your reviews. The prologue was just a translation of what my DM-GM told us the story was going to be about, so we are both glad that you liked it! As for the first chapter... I'll do my best to make Gea a great character, though my performing skills are not very good, but I hope she will be getting level two by chapter 4 and to make her story even more interesting as time passes by. Keep on reading and writing, I really like your story!

**Drk ****Fairy:**Thanks for your review. I'm glad that you enjoyed the beginning of my story. I hope you keep on reading, now that the real D&DBESM d20 game is about to begin.

Now that it's done, welcome to chapter 2. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 2: The Party of Eight: Secrets**

"What a terribly boring day!" I thought as I walked about one of Ionescu's dusted paths. "But... what am I complaining about? I should be used to this... Days are _always_ boring at Ionescu!"

That day I had gone for my usual walk around the town, but it turned out to be very different from the walks I always used to have... As I headed back, I saw this strange group of strangers walking toward my house... Maybe they were just a group of travelers coming from the city, nothing to care about, but that odd looking lot really called my attention so, I decided to follow them closely.

They were six. A very elegant-looking elf male leaded them, followed closely by a semi-elf girl and a human male. Both of them carried an odd-looking sword, very different from the ones I had seen blacksmiths make, but his seemed longer, bigger and heavier than hers (A/N: they carried a Katana and a Daito, Japanese swords usually used by samurais). Behind them, I could see another elf, a woman this time, followed by a gray wolf. She looked a lot like myself, as if she had some sort of dark elf blood running through her veins, too, but she seemed far much younger (maybe a hundred years or so). Beside her stood a gigantic orc, which seemed to me like some kind of beast she had tamed, since she really treated him like a pet or something. The last of them was the most horrible vision I could have seen (I mean, if the vision of the orc could have scared everyone in Ionescu, that person was even more terrifying to me)... He was a dark elf.

They spotted me but I tried not to pay attention to them. I kept walking back to my house, but something stopped me...

-Excuse me- I heard one of the women in the group say.

I turned to face the one who spoke: it was the elf.

-Excuse me- she repeated. –We are looking for this person named Gea... Can you show us where she lives?

-What is it that you want with me?

-Well, my name is Árama and I have been looking for you because someone once told me that maybe you could answer my question... I can see you look pretty much like me, so maybe you can tell me why we do not look like the other elves.

-I can try.

-May I come over to talk in your house? I want it to be a private conversation.

-Of course.

-Timmy always comes with me, wherever I go- she said, pointing at the orc standing next to her. –I hope you do not mind having him listening to our conversation.

-_His_ name is Timmy?- I asked, trying not to laugh. –Is it not a little bit of a strange name for such a... huge being?

-Well, he did not have a name when I found him, so I had to give him one...

-Ok. Whatever...

-Excuse me, but we must keep on our way before it gets late- said the elf that was leading them. –Good morning, miss- he told me. –My name is Aust Donnodel. I have read your aura and I can tell you are a powerful sorcerer. I wonder if you would like to join us in our quest. I will pay you well for the help you can give us.

I thought about it for a while. Maybe that was the chance I had been waiting for during my whole life, the perfect opportunity to leave Ionescu, even if it was only for a short while... And he was going to pay me for that!

-Ok. I will join you.

A shiver started to run down my spine after I said those words... The dark elf was starting to approach me... I did not like him at all, and it was not only because he was a dark elf... There was something else about him, something I could not understand.

-Good morning, miss- he said, taking one of my hands. –My name is Aramir Sianodell. It is a real pleasure to meet such a beautiful lady, and having her joining our party...

I did not like the sound of those words, either. He really made me feel uneasy...

-Ok. Whatever- I said as I took my hand away from him, trying to make him understand that I did not want anything to do with him... I really just wanted him to stay as far away from me as it was possible.

I told them to wait there for me, while I went home and got some stuff I thought I would need. I took my large compound bow and a set of arrows, along with my rapier and a small dagger, among other items... From what Aust said, I understood they were after a group of bugbears that had killed the families for which the young semi-elf and the human had been working. The last trail of them showed that they were somewhere inside the forest.

We walked through the forest for a while, seeing nothing more than the classical things you can always find around a forest: trees, animals, lots of insects... Until that group of nasty little kobolts attacked us in the middle of the woods. 

Nasty, little, stupid creatures, those kobolts... Anyway, after killing some of them, leaving others heavily injured and some others on the run, we kept on our path, following the trails of the kobolts that had been injured. Maybe they could guide us to something interesting...

We went to a stop as the creatures we followed entered a cave in the middle of the woods. Someone was watching over us...

-Who are you and what do you want inside that cave?- said a voice coming from the tree that stood right behind us.

-Who are you?- asked Aust. –And what are you doing here?

-I asked first- the creature revealed itself, showing its devilish appearance. It was not a complete devil, maybe half devil – half human (A/N: he is a tiefling). –Who are you and what do you want inside that cave?

-We were following the group of kobolts you just saw entering this cave- Aust answered. –We are also looking for a group of bugbears that had been seen around this forest lately... My name is Aust Donnodel and these are my companions- he said, pointing at each one as he introduced us. –Mashauri Kimsoa, Árama, Timmy, Bahamut, Aramir Sianodell and Gea Litvkah. (A/N: Mashauri Kimsoa young semi-elf, Bahamut human).

-I see... Well, good luck.

-You have not answered my question yet- Aust replied. –Who are you and what are you doing here?

-Well, my name is Taltos Owlwing and I work for Von Frederich University. I came here looking for something that is supposedly inside this cave, but I cannot tell you what: it is confidential.

-Even for someone else who works for Von Frederich University?- Aust asked and showed him some sort of identification. –What is it that you are looking for?

-Some kind of black box- Taltos answered. –It contains very important information and computer programs.

-Then, you should come with us... Maybe we can find what you are looking for.

We walked through the cave for a while. It seemed to be an eternal, dark, tunnel, but it also seemed that it was empty... there was no sign of the kobolts around the cave. Suddenly, we heard them again, but this time they had something prepared for us...

A group of giant scorpions was thrown to us from somewhere inside the cave. One of them fell over Sianodell, other fell over Timmy and another one over me; the rest of them were spilled around the cave.

I took out my rapier and tried to take off the scorpion that had fallen over my head. When I finally got it in the ground, I cut it's sting off but could not kill it. Timmy, on the other hand, took his scorpion off easily and smashed it on the ground with his giant club, leaving all the walls and most of us covered by the disgusting green color of the scorpion's blood. Sianodell took it off with his sword and slashed it into pieces...

The others were also immerse in their own fights. After trying to slay them, Árama changed her strategy and tried to use some of what I could recognize as druid spells to make the scorpions obey her and cease the attack, but she was not having any results. Taltos, Bahamut and the young semi-elf were also trying to keep them back with their own weapons (actually, Taltos left his knife inside the scorpion he killed). The only one that seemed not to be immerse in a fight was Aust, but why was that?

After ripping off one of my scorpion's legs with my dagger, I heard a small cry. The young semi-elf sat down on the cave's floor, crying, right in front of a giant scorpion that prepared to attack her directly... But she was never attacked, since Aust made a fireball that burnt the insect down into ashes before it could even move.

-I want you all to come and stand behind me!- he commanded.

We all started to move but, as we did, I felt something pierce my skin and fell to the ground: the poison was beginning to spread throughout my body... But I was not the only one in that situation: Sianodell had also been injured.

Was that the end of it? I felt my body slowly becoming numb, and everything became darker and darker behind the clouds that started to obscure my sight. I could not take the pain anymore, so I closed my eyes and decided to let myself die and suddenly, the pain was over...

Was that what dying felt like? No. I could feel my body again. I opened my eyes and everything was as clear as I could see it before the attack... Aust had healed both Sianodell and me.

-Now, stay back- he said, facing the remaining scorpions and, within a second, the part of the cave where the scorpions stood was in fire, killing all of them instantaneously.

After our fight with the giant scorpions, we kept on walking through the cave, looking this time for an exit. As we walked, Sianodell argued with the young semi-elf. They really seemed like little children with their: "At least I get to do something useful" "Something useful? You call sitting down and cry before a gigantic scorpion ready to attack you something useful? Come on, Achu!" "Stop calling me Achu! At least I did much more than you did!"

-There it is- Aust called as we came to a stop.

There it was? What? The exit?

No, it was still dark ahead before us.

On top of a large rock lied a small black box, which he took along with something else, that I could not tell.

He gave the box to Taltos, who examined it and took out something (I guess it was that something that the people from the city use to call computer, but I am still not sure, I had never seen one in my whole life) and started to work on it, but I guess he did not get what he wanted since he looked up at us with a worried look on his face.

-What is wrong?- Aust asked him.

-The information inside this box is protected by a security code.

Aust gave Taltos a hard, piercing look as he took the instrument Taltos had been working on and scribbled something on the keyboard.

-You do not work for Von Frederich University, do you?- he told him. –Maybe you are there, but you are nothing but a pathetic little student who got to hack one of the main computers in the University and found out about this box. Am I right?

-But please do not tell the teacher about this!- Taltos pleaded, as he saw his little theater fall down. –I just needed one of the programs inside that box! I swear!

-I'll tell you what. I am not going to tell your professor about this and I am going to give you a copy of everything inside this box that is not confidential information, but I am going to keep the box... It is a fair deal for the help you are going to give us now, to find this bugbears and fight them.

When everything concerning that strange black box and its contents was done, we kept walking, looking for the exit. Finally, after half an hour of walking, we saw a small, dim, light that started to grow larger as we got closer: the exit.

We did not go out at once, since we heard strange noises outside. Aust went to look at what was happening and told us that there was a group of kobolts fighting against three large bugbears. He also said it would be better for us to stay there and wait to see what happened, so we remained there and waited as we planned what we would do when it was our turn to face the bugbears...

It did not take long for the bugbears to defeat the small group of kobolts that attacked them and, as soon as they turned around to keep on their way through the forest, a huge fireball (Aust made it, obviously. I am still not very good at managing the fire domain) hit their backs (actually, it was kind of funny to see one of them running and dragging himself around the floor, trying to put off the fire that had caught its backside).

Those bugbears were far the most difficult creatures I had got to face up to that time. Even when we were eight against three (actually seven against three, since Taltos decided to climb on a tree and stay there, after saying he was a tech genius, not a fighter), they were giving us a hard time since our attacks damaged them little, but theirs seemed to be beating us.

I apologize if I cannot tell much of what happened during our fight with the bugbears, but when I said they were beating us, I meant they were _really_ beating us... After trying everything I could do against one of those bugbears, not damaging it at all, it attacked me with all its strength, leaving me unconscious, while the others kept on fighting to try and stop them. A few minutes later, I was awakened again... Aust had healed me again.

Well, at least everything ended up fine for us... Sianodell bet one of them with his flaming sword, while Timmy and Bahamut got the other two, finally ending up the battle... When everything was finally over, Bahamut and the young semi-elf searched the bugbears' corpses to find something: two knives of a very special kind that had belonged to the families they used to work for. Finding those knives would mean they had kept the promise they made when those families died and they were now free.

And there they were: the two knives, among a small group of other valuable things. Bahamut and the girl kept the knives, as their price for what they had accomplished. The rest was distributed among the eight of us...

It was mid-afternoon when we finally started walking outside the forest. We had decided to go back to Ionescu and spend the night there. The travel back was peaceful and quiet, and the town remained still as we entered (terribly boring town, nothing interesting ever happened there until I found this group of people).

-Miss- Aust called out for me, as we walked toward my house. –I wanted to thank you for the help you gave us. Here's what I promised you- he handed me a small money bag. –Ten gold pieces, and our gratitude.

°°°

-You can come in. You are welcome in my house. Make yourselves' comfortable- I told them, as we all entered my little house in the middle of Ionescu (except Sianodell, who stayed outside, cleaning his sword from the blood remains in it).

-May you all be welcome at my house- said my mother, as she entered the small living room. –If there is anything you need, just tell- then, she gave Aust a terrible look (if looks could kill, he would have died at least a hundred times) before she spoke again. –Mr. Donnodel, could you please join me in the kitchen? I would like to have a word with you.

I could not understand my mother's strange behavior towards Aust, since she had never acted that way before with anyone, at least not in front of me. And how did she know him? It was the first time I ever saw him, but she seemed to know him from before.

Anyway, they spent in the kitchen for a few minutes, which seemed a real eternity to me, who was not even able to pay attention to the conversation my companionships were having.

Suddenly, Aust appeared back in the living room and walked straight to me. When we were face to face, I felt a small cut in my left cheek... He had scratched me with one of his arrows. Then, he put two bottles in front of me and turned into some kind of shadow as he disappeared from the room.

My mother appeared then, carrying a tray with seven tea cups on it, and gave one to each of us. She stopped in front of me and looked at the wound that appeared in my left cheek. Then, she took a piece of cloth, wetted it with the liquid from one of the bottles and covered the wound with it.

-I demand an explanation!- I said, still confused.

-You shall have to wait, Gea- was the only answer I got from her.

-But... I want to know what is going on! I deserve to know it!

-Not now, Gea. Later.

-By the way, Gea- said Árama. –I wanted to ask you something. Can we talk about it now?

-Whatever it is that you want to ask, you should better ask me- said my mother, not even letting me answer.

-But...

-Leave it that way, Gea. Now, go and bring your guests some of the bread I left in the kitchen- I knew she was telling me that to keep me out of the way, though Taltos and Timmy had spent the last five minutes saying they were starving.

What would they be talking about? I remembered that, when I first met them, Árama said she wanted to ask me something about her appearance. Something about why she seemed so different from other elves... But I could not understand why my mother would not let me listen to that conversation, or even answer Árama's question, though I cannot say much about it.

If my mother's conversation with Aust had seemed eternal, this one was far worst. I could hear her speak, but I could not make out her words and that was killing me... Why wouldn't she let me participate?

When they finally reappeared in the living room and I thought I was finally going to get the explanation I was waiting for, the front door opened and Sianodell entered the house, as he took off his sandals.

-Good evening, madam- he greeted my mother.

-Good evening, young man- she answered. –Come in.

-May I have a word with your daughter, madam?- he asked her.

-Yes, you may- she answered, making a fireball appear in one of her hands. –But be very careful of what you are going to say.

Both Sianodell and I walked out the house; the night was starting to fall over Ionescu. The only thing I loved from Ionescu was its sunsets: when the sky turned light blue, purple and orange and the sun was a red round ball of fire, sinking behind the mountains.

-I wanted to ask you... –he began. –Well, I have noticed you have a great potential and I have been wondering if you want to learn some sword fighting combat skills. I could teach you.

-Sounds interesting, but... why me and not any of the others? Why not the little girl?

-I am looking for a student, not for someone who has already got the skills. She can handle it on herself. I am looking for someone to train, someone to whom I can teach what I know. I already told you that you have a great potential and I am giving you the chance to learn something new. Are you going to accept my offer?

-I do not know- I answered, unsurely. I did not like that guy at all. –Let me think about it.

-Ok- he said, as we entered the house again. –Take your time, consider it as an option. I will be waiting for your answer... You know where to find me. We will keep in touch.

-It is getting late- said Bahamut. –Do you mind if we stay here for tonight?- he asked my mother.

-I am sorry- my mother answered. –But we do not have enough room in here for all of you. I think you should be more comfortable at the town's inn.

And so it was... We bade the six of them good-bye and they went to spend the night at this poor, little, horrible town's inn. When they were gone, my mother called me to sit next to her, back in the living room.

-That man, Aust Donnodel, was your father, you know?- I gave her a terrified look. –Yes, it was him, he just took a different shape to get close to you. He had been watching over you all the time.

-All the time?- I asked, even more terrified.

-Yes, you may have noticed it... A shadow moving around the woods... He is able to blend in with the shadows and become one of them. He came to bring you these- she gave me the two bottles. –Poison and its antidote. Dark elves tend to use poison on their weapons, he thought you would like to have them and find them useful. Look, Gea- she said, a little worried. –I have decided to send you to the University.

-The University?

-Yes. I want you to be as safely away from him as possible. He has got some sort of special interest in you, but that place is full of forces he won't even dare to fight against- she made a brief pause. –You are going to go through a lot of changes, my child... And I am not only saying this because one of these days you will turn into a complete dark elf (I am sorry, but we both know that is really going to happen), but because your necromancy is going to evolve with you. Anyway, even though I cannot help you to handle with it, you know you can always count on me for whatever you need. I also want you to take this- she took a necklace out of one of her pockets and put it into my hands. It had a trinket with a red heart joined in the middle by a black triangle. –Keep it always. It will let me know how and where you are... The only problem is that _he_ can also find you with it, but it is better if we both know where you are than if none of us knows how you are doing.

-But... what is going to happen to you?- I asked her. Now, my worries had changed... I had never left my mother alone, and I did not think I could be able to do it after what she had said.

-I am going to stay here, as always- she said calmly. –You can visit me on weekends and holidays, or whenever you like. You know this house's door will always be open for you, but I really want you to go out and start a life out there.

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Well, that's all for today. I hope you don't think this chapter is too long. I use to write short chapters, but D&D stories need a lot of space to tell what happens. Besides, we are on vacation and take advantage of it and sit down and play for six or seven hours on Thursdays. nn

I apologize if my fight scenes are not very good: I forgot most of what had happened during the game, so I could only write what I remembered. I promise that next time I'm going to write down everything that happens so this won't happen again.

Ok, see you next weekend! This time I'll bring you **Welcome to Von Frederich University (Christmas Special Edition Part One).**

Remember to make me happy and leave me a nice, long (or short) review.

_Ruby._


	4. Chapter 3: Welcome to Von Frederich Univ...

As I promised, since I couldn't upload a chapter last week, I had to upload two chapters this week So... here is chapter 3. It is a little bit longer than chapter 2, but... Enjoy yourselves!

I apologize by using the phrase "the young semi-elf" or "our young girl" too often, but Gea has never been properly introduced to Mashauri so, she is not supposed to call her by her name yet. I also apologize for giving you our Christmas Special so late, but I really had to work on it.

Happy New Year!

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

**Chapter 3: Welcome to Von Frederich University.**

**(Christmas Special Edition –Part one)**

I got up a little late the next day. I really did not sleep well that night: I could not take that conversation I had had with my mother out of my head...

I left my house with a very strange feeling. Now I had got what I had always wanted: I was about to leave Ionescu, but I still did not feel satisfied... I was going to be too far away. If anything happened to my mother when I was not around I would never, ever forgive me. But I could not hold back, either. She wanted me to stay far away, as far away as I could, for my own safety and I was not going to worry her anymore. I had to do it.

As I walked to the town's inn to look for the others, I heard a strange noise behind a set of bushes. I got close to them, preparing to draw out one of my weapons, just in case, when I saw it was Timmy who was sneaking behind the bushes.

-Timmy? What are you doing here? Where are the others?

-Timmy doesn't know. Timmy hungry; looking for something to eat.

-Ok, whatever- I said. I was really not in the mood for whatever kind of conversation you can have with an orc, if you can really have one. -Can you please help me find the others? Maybe they are still at the inn.

We walked for a while, until we reached the inn. The others had already left their rooms and there was no sign of them around the inn, until we reached the lobby and...

-Good morning, miss. It is nice to see you again this morning- once again I felt that terrible shiver running down my spine as I heard Sianodell speak. –What brings you around here?

-I came to look for you- I said. –Where are the others?

-Well, I do not know- he said. –But I saw Árama and Achu a while ago. They were heading towards the church. Maybe we can still find them there.

When we reached the church, we found Árama and the young semi-elf at the door; they were about to leave. Árama was wearing a silver cross in a thin necklace.

-Good morning- said Árama. Then, she turned to Timmy. –Where have _you _been? I had been looking for you during the whole morning! Just thank that today I am not in the mood to hit you, because if I was...

-So... what do we do now?- asked the girl.

-The ferryboat does not leave for another ten minutes- Sianodell said (A/N: Ionescu is a small town located in a little island and our characters have to travel a long way to get to the island where the campus they are heading to is located). –So, I guess we shall have to wait and try to find the others.

We remained in the church's square until it was time to leave. We did not get any sign from the rest of the party so, we had to leave without them. We could not lose any time... That ferryboat was the only chance we had to leave and reach Von Frederich University before the registration day.

We traveled along the ship's deck, watching everything we had ahead us and what we had just left behind... The ship was full of people, everyone heading to the great cities on the other side of the sea. Suddenly, we noticed this strange red-haired elf clad in blue heading toward us. He stopped right in front of Árama.

-Hello, beautiful- he told her. –I was just wondering if you would like to have a drink with me.

-What for?- she asked.

-Well, so we can get to know each other, become good friends, I mean, do not get me wrong.

-Ok.

-Great- he said. But as he said that, this pink-haired girl appeared right behind him, took him by the arm and dragged him away from us as she scolded him:

-Where have you been? We have been looking everywhere for you! You should stop the "Zopilagarteo" and concentrate on what we came here to do!

-Bye! It was nice to meet you!- we heard him yell as they both disappeared around a corner.

The rest of the trip until we reached the port was fortunately calm.

A little town awaited for us. There, we got things we thought we would need. Sianodell bought another sword, a little bit shorter than the one he always carried, Árama got a whip and Timmy got a trident, a net and a tanglefoot bag. As for myself, I just bought a pair of tanglefoot bags and a couple of small bottles with acid (they might turn up handy at any time). The young semi-elf decided not to buy anything.

A while later, we took the bus that would take us to the closest city, where we would spend the night... Wow! That city was the most marvelous thing I had ever seen in my whole life. I had never been to a place like that one before... So full of mysteries, magic and high technology, a real mixture of the best things planet Earth and planet House had before the fusion, like the people that passed by Ionescu had described it to me!

The first thing we did when we got there was to go shopping (Árama's idea) while Sianodell went to look for a place for us to stay that night. Árama bought lots of stuff. She went out of every shop with at least one bag, and she also got a new haircut. Timmy got himself a gabardine, a hat and a pair of sunglasses (you should see him! He looked really funny in that outfit). I tried to buy something that would make me fit in the place I was going to live in and got a pair of jeans, a pair of blouses and a pair of tennis shoes. Again, the young girl decided not to buy anything.

When Sianodell finally found us, we headed to the inn where he said we were going to stay at. It was a really nice one (at least he had a good taste to pick the places where we could stay) and they were having a party that night! Free bar all night long! It would be nice... A calm night in a party, no weapons, no horrible creatures to fight...

Well... Not that nice. As soon as we entered, this drunk guy fell upon me. Fortunately, I could take him off easily. But, somewhere on the other side of the bar, three guys were bothering the pink-haired girl we met that morning. Árama said she would not like that if it had happened to her, so she went to help the girl with the small dagger she had hidden and soon, we were all immerse in a huge bar-fight: People all around us hitting each other for no apparent reason...

But that would not last for long, either. The guys that were in charge of the security that night got everything under control in a few minutes, after which we decided to leave.

-Are you alright?- Árama asked the girl she had tried to help.

-Of course- she answered. –That _always _happens to me when I am around. That is the effect a beautiful girl like me can cause upon men.

I did not like that comment at all. What was _her_ problem? Árama had just saved her from three guys she could not have got off her on her own and that was the answer she gave!

Anyway, another red-haired guy appeared behind her.

-Well, thank you for your help- he told us. –We would like to meet all of you tomorrow at 10 o'clock at the Sabana, the park that is a few meters away from here...

°°° (Next day, 10:00 am at the Sabana)

-We have been expecting you- said the guy that had arranged our meeting. –We are a group of Sentai Members and we want to defy you to a one-and-one fight.

We accepted their challenge. It would not be that hard, would it?

They were exactly five: one for each one of us. Árama would fight against the same guy we had met at the ferry. Timmy would face that weird, delicate-looking guy (at a start we did not quite know if he was a guy or a girl). Our young girl would combat against the youngest member of their group (or at least he seemed to be), a really small boy with a somewhat greenish-colored skin and red eyes (I still do not know how she thought _that_ was cute). Sianodell began to fight with the guy that seemed to be the group's leader. So... guess who I had to fight against?

-Let's begin- she said. She carried a large compound bow like mine so, I decided to make a fair fight, fighting against her with exactly the same weapon... The strongest one would keep standing after the battle.

Not even thinking about it twice, I began the attack, hitting her with one of my arrows. The others had also begun the attack, but without any positive results... Árama had been wounded, while Sianodell and the guy he was fighting kept a very tough fight.

Now it was their turn to attack us, but they did not turn out lucky... Well, at least most of them, since the pink-haired girl got to hit me with one of her arrows, but she paid for it, because my next attack knocked her out completely.

I could not believe it! "How could it turn out so easy?" I thought, as I saw the young semi-elf knock out the guy she was fighting against.

Anyway, we decided to help the others, specially Árama, who was deeply wounded, but we did not get lucky enough... I ended damaging her much more than she was.

When Timmy ended up the guy he had been fighting, he tried to help us but...

-That is enough!- said their leader. –You are terribly pathetic!-he scolded his teammates, that were just beginning to recover. –Let's go!

-I am not going to lose against you again- said the pink-haired girl, as they went away. –I am cuter than you and the cute ones like me always win... You'll see!

What could I say against that little pathetic display of immaturity? Absolutely nothing, everything I could do was to laugh at it...

°°°

After other 40 minutes on that city, another bus trip and another ferryboat trip, on December the 21st we finally reached the island we were heading to... Von Frederich University, Elizabeth campus.

-Welcome to Elizabeth campus!- a guy greeted us as we went down the ferryboat. –Here you go...-he handed each of us a pamphlet. –There is a map of the campus and some information on the careers we offer. The University has also prepared a Vocational Fair in case you still have doubts on what to study... We also have politics about the possession of wild animals- he said, as he looked at Árama's wolf and the small dragon that Timmy bought in one of the cities we passed by on our way there. –You have two options: Or you buy them a leash and make sure that your animals are appropriately tied up so they will not affect the people around you, or you leave them at the Wildlife Research Area, where they will be fed, looked after, and kept in habitats similar to the ones they are used to live in... And you can visit them whenever you want- both of them accepted this last option and sent their animals to the Wildlife Research Area.

-There is something else- said Sianodell before we started walking to the building where the Vocational Fair was taking place. –Someone is out of place here... _She _is not supposed to be here yet. Are you, Achu?

-Leave me alone! And do not call me Achu!

-The High-School building is a couple of blocks away from here. When we are done here, I will take you there.

It took us just one minute to reach the building. It was full of stands showing the different careers the University offered... There was a lot of people around, very special people, I could sense.

What to study? That was a hard question to answer. I seemed to be the only one who had not decided yet... Árama seemed pretty convinced that Natural Arcane Arts was just perfect for her and Sianodell... well, he must have had something in mind...

I looked at each one of the careers in the list that guy had given us: Not interesting, not interesting, not interesting... That was really going to be a tough choice! But... I finally got an idea. Now that I think about it, it sounds really naive, innocent. Anyway, I have to think in my future as a firecaster and the best way to become one fast, at least at that time, was to study Magic and specialize in the Fire Domain.

With that idea in mind, I walked toward the Magic stand in the fair.

I felt a little uncomfortable as I approached the stand. That man dressed in black clothes, with long black hair and a pair of deep black eyes that stood behind the stand kept looking at me as I drew nearer. He seemed to be trying to get to the depths of my soul just by looking at me... But that would not stop me.

-How may I help you, miss?- he asked, giving me a terrible look (just like the one my mother gave Aust when we reached the house a few days ago).

-I just wanted to know what this University may offer me if I decide to study Magic.

-Well, we offer the usual stuff. Some Physics basis, since you need to know what you are going to control before doing it. We also train you on the usage of seven of the eight Arcane Magic schools (Necromancy is out of our bounds. This institution does not instruct in anything that has to do with the dark arts)-he said, not taking his eyes away from me. I did not know for how long I was going to stand the way he looked at me. –And, you may choose to specialize yourself in one Domain, but to do that you must show me that you have finished your magic career.

-Ok... And what can you tell me about the specialization in the Fire Domain?

-A very interesting element, fire... But also a tricky and difficult one to handle. Not everyone who tries to handle the specialization in fire finishes it... Too hard for them- he said. –_I_ direct the specialization in the Fire Domain, having served the Fire Circle for many years... until I decided to leave it.

-Well, thank you- I said and went away as soon as he finished talking. I had to find the others so we could keep on our way. It was getting late and we still had to find our dorms.

°°°

-These are the girls' dormitories- said the guy that had been leading us around the campus. –The guys' dorms are on the west wing. There are also some rules around here: It is forbidden to play music at a high volume after 10 pm. There is also a rule about sexual pursuit, but no one pays much attention to it around here... May I have your names, please?

Árama and I gave him our names and he checked out for them on a list he carried.

-You are lucky- he said as he guided us upstairs to the third floor. –You were assigned to the same room- he opened the room's door and we entered it: it was a big dormitory, big enough for three beds, a desk, three bedside tables, a great closet and the bathroom. –Your other roommate will be arriving tomorrow- then, he went away with Sianodell and Timmy.

°°°

The next morning we got up a little bit earlier than we did the day before and went to take a walk around the campus before the registration began. We had just stopped in front of a great building when a great vehicle (a limousine I think it is called...) stopped right in front of where we stood...

A very elegant human man came out of the vehicle, followed by several tall, hefty men (his bodyguards, apparently) and a young woman, dressed in black with black eyes and black, straight, short hair.

-Good morning- the man told us as they all stopped in front of us.

-Hi!- yelled the young semi-elf as soon as she saw him. Did she really know him? Or was she doing it because it was her nature? I mean, in the time I had been around her, there had not been a man, no matter young, old, thin, fat, ugly or not that she had not treated or at least thought of as the "cutest guy you could ever see".

-New students, I assume- he said, looking at the rest of us. –Welcome to Von Frederich University, Elizabeth campus. My name is Ian Strauss.

-Nice to meet you, sir.

-If you excuse me, they are expecting me for this year's opening speech- he said as he started walking inside the building. –I hope to see you there.

We decided to enter the building to listen to the speech. The room was already full of people, so we had to remain standing at the back of the room... It was a short, concise, but nice speech... only interrupted by Timmy's sudden appearance on the stand, right behind Mr. Strauss (I could not understand how he did that, if a second before he was standing beside Árama), whose bodyguards could have killed Timmy if he had not disappeared from the stand and appeared right beside Árama again... She had never been so embarrassed in her whole life.

Right after the speech, it was time for us to register. I had already made my perfect schedule, with all the subjects I wanted to take that term perfectly placed in order to have some spare time (maybe a day off) and not very hard days... Everything balanced.

Anyway, things did not turn out the way I expected...

-You had not taken into account your sports activity, miss, had you?- asked the man I had met at the Magic stand the day before (he turned out to be the one who had to approve or reject the subjects I wanted to take). –Everyone has to take it on first year- he said again, giving me one of his killer looks as he looked for some paper upon the table. –Let's see... Rugby, Basketball, Baseball, Football, those are the only ones that are not full yet. It is up to you.

-I will pick baseball, then.

-Well, miss, let me tell you that it will be hard, if not impossible, to get everything you have asked for at the times you have asked for- he said, taking all the papers away in a bad manner. –Ok, that is all. You will have your results soon.

I did not leave in a good mood. What was _his _problem with me? Everything he had done since I met him was to treat me like the worst scum he had seen in his whole life... The way he looked at me, the way he talked to me... I could not stand that man!

When I walked back to the building where my room was located, I heard Árama calling out for me:

-Hey, Gea! There is going to be a Christmas dinner tonight at the campus' dinning room- she said. –Let's go. It will be fun. Yes?

-Ok, count me in- I told her, and soon I remembered... –By the way, I need to talk to you.

-Are you heading up to the dorm now? It will be better for us to talk there.

We walked to our room and, when we opened the door, we saw the girl we had just seen that morning (the one that accompanied Mr. Strauss) sitting on the bed that had been empty the night before.

-Ah... Hello- she said as soon as she saw us entering the room. –I am your new roommate. My name is Vanessa.

-Nice name- said Árama. –I am Árama and this is Gea. So, what are you going to study, Vanessa?

-I came here to study Magic- she answered.

-I am in Natural Arcane Arts- said Árama.

-I am going to study Magic, too- I said. –I want to get a specialization in the Fire Domain.

-I am going to trust you something, but you should not tell anybody- Vanessa said. –I actually study the Dark Arts, but as those subjects are not given in this school, I am taking them elsewhere. Now, if you tell anyone, I will have to curse you.

-Ok, no problem- said Árama (sometimes she talks for us both...). –But under one condition... Teach us something. You learn and then you teach us something of what you have learned.

-You know the Dark Arts are very dangerous. But, yeah, maybe I can teach you some small things...

-Thank you. Now, if you excuse us, I have something to talk about with Gea...

-Ok, no problem- she said, as she entered the bathroom.

-What was that thing you wanted to tell me, Gea?- Árama asked as soon as Vanessa left us alone.

-I just wanted to know what did my mom and you talked about when we were in my house...

-Well, you see... I asked her about why I looked different from other elves, and she told me something about what my family could have been like and where to find the other dark elves so that maybe there I could find out something about my family... She also told me that your father is a dark elf, is that true?

-Unfortunately...- was everything that I could answer before there was a knock on the door and the guy at the door handed me a letter... a letter from my mother.

_Dear Gea:_

_My best wishes for you and your friends for this Christmas._

_I just wrote to make you know that I am moving away from Ionescu... I got a job in the city and I bought a little apartment here. Now that we are a little bit closer, I hope you can visit me for New Year._

_Take care._

As soon as I finished reading, we heard a terrible scream and a howl coming from the bathroom. The door burst open as Timmy fell onto the room's floor, followed by a terribly angry Vanessa.

-What are you waiting for? Kill that thing!- she said. –It is already blind and deaf because of the spell I put on it.

-No- Árama interrupted. –Do not do anything to him. He is our friend.

-Well, next time tell _your friend _not to appear that way inside a girls' bathroom! I was changing clothes!

As soon as she said that, Timmy disappeared in the same way he did during the speech (maybe the same way in which he had just appeared inside our bathroom).

°°° (A few hours later: dinner time)

The dinning room was full of people when we got there. It had been magnificently decorated with a series of magical items that provided lights and Christmas colors all around the room... Though it was full, we could find a table where all of us could sit together.

-Excuse me, Aramir- asked Árama, after he finished the "gentleman theater" gently pushing my chair toward the table. -Can you please tell me why are you so... kind to our friend Gea?

-Yeah, I was wondering the same- said the young semi-elf (High-School students had also been invited to that night's dinner).

-Well, that is none of your concern, _ACHU_.

-Stop calling me that way!- she began. –Gea, please tell him to stop bothering me!

-Why me?

-Because he always pays attention to you...

-That is not true! See?- I told her, when he called her "Achu" for the last time. –He can stop on his own... if you just stop paying attention to him. By the way, Sianodell, I have been considering your proposal and... I have decided to accept it.

You may be wondering why I had decided to accept... Well, I had something in mind... Maybe spending more time with him could reveal me that part of him that I could not understand but made me dislike him so much... I knew he had something in mind... He was up to something, too.

-Really? Well, I train twice a day. A couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours at night, just tell me which of them suits you well.

-I still do not know. I shall have to wait for my schedule, since I am no longer sure that I am going to get it the way I wanted it.

Suddenly, all the lights went off. A general rumor filled the place and we heard a clinging noise under our table.

Ignoring Sianodell's "I did not hear anything. Let's stop worrying for things that are not important"; we searched for what could have made that sound... and our young semi-elf found it out in a very painful way: she stepped on a set of thistles that had been thrown there... But there was no time to figure out where they came from, since the sound of people screaming filled the room next.

-The University is under attack! We want all the students to go back to their rooms or find a safe place while we take care of what is going on!

We tried to do as we were told. We began to walk out by the emergency exits and were stopped by a tiny ice nefit, who was almost immediately defeated by the girl's sword.

-I can feel something wrong is going to happen in the gym- she said.

The gym? Many students have headed that way after the attack was announced! We could not just go away and leave them there, if something wrong was really going to happen there!

We walked around the gym, looking for a sign of something wrong that could happen there and, when we reached the back of the gym, we found a devil trying to free himself from the net he had been trapped in (the net Timmy had bought the day before).

It did not take long for the devil to free himself and when he did, the battle turned much worse than the one we had had with the bugbears... It seemed like Sianodell's attacks were the only ones that were really causing some damage and, once in a while, one of Timmy's or Árama's attacks (I am sorry to say I am not very good in the battlefield, and the spells I can make are not very useful in this situations).

After attacking Sianodell with a strange kind of poisonous smoke that came out of its tail, the devil spread its wings and took off, making it harder for us to attack, specially the ones whose only weapons were swords and could not cast spells on them the way Sianodell did (actually, I think that is why our young girl tried to run away). Suddenly, Timmy disappeared and appeared back, mounting on top of the devil's back, smashing it against the ground, but it was not enough yet... The devil took off again, this time taking the young girl with him.

Now it was much more difficult to attack. How were we going to attack that thing without harming the girl? That's when Árama got a brilliant idea: she made an Entanglement spell to stop the devil, but she failed... Timmy and I did not have much luck either using our tanglefoot bags (actually, I entangled Sianodell by accident – "great, isn't it?"- notice the irony. –"I entangled the only one who was inflicting a real damage upon that thing"). Anyway, the young semi-elf got to free herself on her own; she hit the devil so hard that it had to let her go...

The next time we attacked, we had a plan, Sianodell would charm his sword once again and Árama and I would attack the devil together, using our bow and crossbow, so we could corner it against the tree where Timmy was waiting to fall on top of it again. But we did not have good luck either... Though we got to hit it, it was not enough to keep it against the tree, so our plan failed (it was not close enough for Timmy to get it properly). It tried to catch the young semi-elf again, but she got away, so it attacked Árama, causing her a hemorrhage.

While he tried to disentangle himself, Sianodell got another plan... A plan that left him and Timmy heavily wounded, since it did not work either. So, while Timmy went away from the battlefield to cure himself and Árama helped to cure Sianodell's wounds (A/N: by that time, Sianodell had already disentangled himself), we planned one last combined attack. If it did not work, nothing else would...

The devil began to draw closer. Árama and I were already waiting for it; bow and crossbow ready... But this time we were just a diversion... Sianodell was the one who was really trying to attack.

Árama and I attacked together and then, our shoulders served as Sianodell's thrust to jump on top of the devil, where he stabbed it with his sword. As it fell to the ground, the devil kicked Sianodell off it, knocking him out. But it was not dead yet. It got up and started to walk away, when one of Árama's arrows pierced one of its open wounds and it fell dead immediately.

Finally, it was all over. But something was not right (at least for me): I watched in horror as Árama suddenly began to change... Her skin became darker and darker, until it took that grayish color I hated so much and her blond hair became lighter, until it turned totally white. The change I feared the most had taken place right before my eyes.

Feeling weary and tired, we slowly began to walk toward the dorms. Maybe a good rest could cure the wounds we had got. Anyway, I still got that terrible feeling that we had forgotten something...

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**Author's Notes:**

**Zopilagarto:** Envolves the words lagarto (small type of crocodile), that we use here in Costa Rica (I think it is also used in other Latin-American countries) to refer to a guy that's always flirting every girl that appears before his eyes, and zopilote (buzzard). So, a zopilagarto is this guy who flirts every girl that appears before his eyes and follows her like a buzzard does before they fly down to get their food.

**Sentai Members: **They usually fight as a team (like the Power Rangers, VR Troopers and other similar ones...) and their greatest strength comes from what they can do as a group more than what they do on their own. Their individual abilities are always used for the group's purposes.

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Well, that's all for today. I hope you liked it.

I also apologize if Gea is not a master for combat, I don't know what's up with my dice throwing, they always get low scores uu. And I've tried with a thousand of them!

What was that thing we forgot? If you haven't figured it out yet, you shall have to wait 'til chapter 4: **What else could one expect on a Christmas night? (Christmas Special Edition Part Two) **is up.

I also want to say: if Gea's relationship with this teacher sounds a little bit like something you know, IT IS NOT MY FAULT. I did not create that guy, so...

Ok. It is really over now. Don't forget to send a nice review. Please make me happy.

Bye.

_Ruby._

P.S: Just in case you were wondering... The thistle attack in the dinning room... It was Sianodell who threw them under Mashauri's chair on purpose.


	5. Chapter 4: What Else Could One Expect on...

Hello once again! And welcome to a new chapter of my story. I hope you enjoy this one. It is the ending of my Christmas Special Editions (once again I apologize for bringing it up so late, but I make my best for them to be good). Anyway, before I begin, thanks to:

**DemonDragonJ: **Thank you so much. I am really glad that you are enjoying my story so much... Sometimes I don't know how it's going so; it is nice to know that at least someone likes the different pathways the story takes. Actually, it is really a blend of humor (my sister always says our campaign is a total joke, compared to those her friends play in... and it was kind of obvious ever since Timmy was invented), action (we have at least three interesting fights each Thursday and the rest... well, most of it comes from my imagination) and romance (though it is not very explicit yet, but soon it will be a little more obvious)... I'll make my best to keep it going that way.

I also thank you for the small note you left in Dime que No (I'm sorry, I just found it today). I had the idea that you were fond of Harry Potter ever since I began to read your story... Maybe someday with a little bit of time I can tell you what it is about. You know? It is funny... You have trouble with Spanish, and one of my best friends here has trouble with English, so it is going to take her a lot of time to finish reading IntentO. Maybe someday you'll really get to read Dime que No, and enjoy it as much as she does.

**sara fenix black: **Hey, girl!I didn't mean I couldn't finish Dime que No because of you! I just meant I need a little help and, since you are the one that always help me... Anyway, tell Ana to be patient, it will soon be done. I also think it is good for you to practice your English, since this year we have to take that English course at the University (se supone, yo lo voy a hacer por suficiencia)... When you read it, tell me what you think. You know your comments are always helpful to me.

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**Chapter 4: What Else Could One Expect on a Christmas Night?**

**(Christmas Special Edition – Part II)**

-Wait!- said the young semi-elf as we walked back to our respective buildings. –I do not hear any annoying, complaining voice around... Where is Aramir?

-Aramir? Oops... We totally forgot about him!- said Árama. –We cannot leave him there! We have to go back!

-We _really_ have to?- asked the girl again. –I was just saying...

-Yes, we have to... Come on, let's go!

We headed back to the place where we had been fighting when we ran into Bahamut, who was walking in the opposite direction.

-Hey! Where are you coming from?- he asked us.

-Take a guess- Árama replied. –Thank you for noticing the wounds and the blood streams and _for asking if we are OK!_

-Ok, I am sorry- he said. –What happened?

-We were having dinner when the dinning room was attacked- she answered. –The dinning room was evacuated but, as soon as we went out, we were attacked by an ice nefit, and then, Mashauri felt that something was going to happen in the gym, precisely where many people were hiding. We went to see what was going on and found this devil, who was really beating us until Aramir got rid of it, but ended up unconscious. Now we are heading back to pick him up.

-Ok, let's go. Maybe you will need my help.

-By the way- said the young girl. –Where have _you_ been? We waited a lot for you when we first came here.

-We left earlier that day- he answered. –Because _unlike_ _others_ we did get up early, we got tired of waiting for you to wake up and went away without you.

-Hey! Thank you!

The discussion could have taken longer, but another ice nefit appeared right in front of us and attacked Bahamut with her ice breath. He recovered almost immediately, and, when he did, he fought her with his sword, finally leaving it wounded enough for Árama to finish her up.

-Hey, guys! Where had you been?- we heard another familiar voice approaching: it was Taltos. –I was on my way to the computer lab when I heard something and came to see what was going on.

As we explained the whole story again for Taltos, we kept walking until we heard something strange a little bit further ahead from us. It was another devil, just like the one we had fought a while before, but this time it was following a girl, maybe a university student. They were heading up to the closest building... Our building.

We could not leave her alone! What would that horrible thing do if someone did not help her? So, we followed them, but they were already inside the building... When we entered, each of us attacked, but did not damage the devil much...

The girl was also trying to defend herself; she attacked the monster with a set of really strange black lights... There was also some sort of little devilish black winged creature, which tried to help her, stinging the devil with its tail and biting it.

The rest of us kept fighting. Suddenly, Bahamut yelled something that sounded much like the word "book" before he attacked the monster again, but I could not see any book around. What would he mean?

Anyway, I kept attacking. Maybe I heard wrong... Who would not when everything we could hear was the roar of the battle upon us... and the sound of the water that was slowly starting to fall over us, since Taltos had activated the fire alarm with a burning arrow? (A/N: A wasted dice throwing, if you ask me. He did that with no purpose at all...).

Finally, it all came to an end. After the little devilish creature pierced the devil once again with its sting, Árama ended him up with one of her arrows.

But something was not alright with me... I felt this strange kind of energy running everywhere inside myself and watched as my own skin became darker, until it took that grayish color I hated so much and my hair became lighter, until it turned totally white. I had undergone the same change that Árama had a while before. Now I looked like a total drow.

It would be difficult to describe how terrible I felt when that happened, but I did not have much time to think about it because when I realized, Bahamut had seized a book, and the girl we had saved did something that made him let go of it. Timmy, who had just appeared in the middle of the room, hit the girl and got the book, but she casted some sort of spell and it hit him so hard that he had to let go of the book and was dragged outside the building, letting her recover it.

She turned around. I could finally see her face: it was Vanessa.

-Vanessa?- Árama asked a little scared as Vanessa turned to face her. –Take it easy, it is just us. We are not going to hurt you. What is this all about?

-You should be careful- was everything she answered. –I have to take this to a safe place.

Suddenly, someone else entered the room. It was a hooded figure followed by four ice nefits. He walked toward Vanessa and demanded her to give him the book. Since she would not let go of the book, he touched her face and began to drain her energy away: a Vampiric Touch.

-Hey! You cannot do that!- Árama yelled. –My friend still has to tell me something really important!

Taltos prepared his crossbow and attacked, piercing one of the creature's arms, but it was not enough for it to let Vanessa go. Bahamut and I, on the other hand, had to attack the ice nefits, who had stood on our way to get to their master. Timmy (who had just re-entered the building) also tried to get them but failed.

Someone else appeared inside the room, some kind of shadow which began to take form: Aust.

He stepped between us and took the two remaining nefits with his hands, killing them immediately. Then he turned to the hooded figure:

-Your job here is done. Go away.

-No- the creature replied. –Not without the book!

-I said go away!- he repeated. –Ian Strauss will be here in a couple of minutes. You know what he is capable of. Go away.

The hooded figure went away, leaving Vanessa a little dazed, but still alive. She was still holding tight to the book.

-That book is not for you, Miss Proudmore- Aust told her. –It is got a lot more power than the one you can handle. You should put it back where you found it.

Then, he turned to Árama. He walked straight to her and, when they were face to face, he scratched her cheek with one of his arrows, just like he had done with me when we met. Then, he gave her four bottles.

-Here you go- she told her. –Now that you are a complete drow you can use these- he pointed at one of the bottles. –Take this. It is the poison's antidote- he started walking away. –Your parents would be proud of you, my godchild.

He turned to me, then.

-I see you have got strong enough to turn into a complete drow- he told me. –I am proud of you. Now you have got the necromancer touch gift growing inside you...

-What?- I interrupted him. –You call this a gift? Ok, I _really_ think we have very different ideas about what a gift is... This is the damn curse I bear because of you!

-I am willing to see it evolve as you grow stronger- he said, not even paying attention to what I had just said to him. –But I have greater expectancies to see you learn to control the Fire Domain and become a great firecaster. Now, I have to go- he said as he turned into a shadow again and disappeared but, before he did, he gave Taltos some sort of disk.

We were about to walk upstairs when Mr. Strauss entered the building. He scolded Vanessa for a long time (I did not get much about what he said, I just remember: "I thought you were more responsible, Miss Proudmore. Of all the books you could have taken, you took the most dangerous one...") before he went away, carrying the book, not without thanking us for what we did for Vanessa and sending all of us up to bed (it was around three o'clock in the morning).

When we reached our room, Árama finally got her chance to ask Vanessa what she wanted to:

-Vanessa- she said. –Where did you get that book? Why were you attacked because of it?

-Well, I... borrowed it... Stole it... Well, I took it from my father, Kuro. His private library is full of powerful black magic sorcery books. This one was full of enchantments, necromancy, and a few pages written in a language I could not understand; that's why they wanted it...

°°° (December the 24th)

There was a loud knock on the door. The mail had arrived... Both Árama and I received the same letter: an invitation. Mr. Ian Strauss was inviting us to a private Christmas dinner!

Wow! Just picture that! We had been invited to have dinner with the University's Headmaster... And you know exactly what that meant in Árama's language: Let's go shopping!

We walked out and ran into the young semi-elf, who was walking straight toward our building (I guess she felt a little bit lonely in the High-School building, since we were the only people she knew around there)... She had also received an invitation like ours and decided to join us on our little shopping trip.

We walked into this shop and, while the young girl and I started looking at what we could buy to wear that night (it was going to be a really special occasion, we could not go in our everyday clothes), Árama started looking for a black cape, a pair of sunglasses, a black hat and something to dye her hair black with. That was a really strange thing to see. I mean, why would she do that?

Anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the campus until it was time to go up, get ready and walk to the building where the dinner was taking place to get there on time (the invitation said eight o'clock).

The room was magnificently decorated and, on the main table, everything was settled for the feast. Several plates full of very different kinds of food covered the whole table and, sitting at the head of the table, Mr. Strauss awaited, surrounded by Taltos, Bahamut and Timmy.

-Before we begin, I would like to thank all of you for your help... You saved the students that were inside the gym from the devil that was about to attack them and you helped Miss Proudmore when she was in trouble. This Christmas dinner is to thank you for what you did- Mr. Strauss said when we had taken our places and, then, he turned to Taltos. –I also have good news for you, Mr. Owlwing: You have got the job you had been seeking as a professor assistant. You will be starting next week and will receive fifty gold pieces each month- Taltos' expression suddenly changed: his usual smile broadened and the joy that could be seen in his eyes was indescribable...

We were about to start eating when the door was opened again.

-Hey, Aramir! It is great to see that you are Ok now!- said Árama, as Sianodell entered the room.

-Definitely not thanks to you- he answered and went to sit down at the far side of the table.

I felt something strange as he sat so far away from us... Maybe it was just sort of pity... He must have felt that we just used him and, when he was not useful anymore, we just left him there... Though I knew it was a mistake, I would totally understand if he would not want to talk to us or help us ever again. But I still felt bad about it...

We had a quite peaceful meal... as peaceful as you can have with a gigantic orc eating close to you. I mean... not a very peaceful dinner for Árama, who had to apologize for Timmy's manners and ended up saying that even her wolf would behave better than he did.

Anyway, when the table had been cleared, one of Mr. Strauss' bodyguards entered the room with a large bag and gave each of us a present (I got two since one of them was a letter from my mother, along which came fifty gold pieces). As each of us opened our presents, he explained what they were for... (A/N: sorry, but I don't want to make this chapter very long, so I am just going to say what each of us got and omit the explanations. I also apologize to my game pals if I may have mixed up any of the gifts we got, I do not write that fast). Taltos got a heal of comprehend language and read magic; Árama got a bag of tricks; the young girl got a rusted dusk of dryness; Timmy got a Murlying spoon; Bahamut got the boots of winterland and I got a pearl of power. None of us got to know what Sianodell received as a Christmas present because he just put it away without even looking at it.

-Árama- said Mr. Strauss, as we opened our presents. –You should be very careful now that you have turned into a complete drow. Many people know your story and they may start to look for you...

-I know- she replied. –That is why I had to dye my hair black and buy some other things to keep myself as hidden as possible.

-You should also be very careful about what you want to know... There are some things that are better left unknown... You could get a terrible surprise- then, he turned to me. –Miss, I have heard a lot about your family, specially about your father... A very powerful, troublesome man...

"Why does it always have to be him?" I wondered as he said those words. "I want to stay as far away from him as it is possible and he has to appear even in casual conversations!"

-But you should not worry about him. We will do anything we can to keep him away from you. You will be safe in here.

"If he only knew that my father has just been here the other night..."

°°° (January the 2nd)

-Yes... Of course we will... Tomorrow?... Yeah, I guess there will be no problem- I heard Árama speak to the small device that was our only mean of communication in between rooms. –Sure, just wait a second- she turned to me. –Gea, Bahamut wants to speak with you.

-Hi, Gea- I heard Bahamut say. –Look, Taltos is got a special assignment... You know... His new job as his teacher's assistant... and he wants to know if you want to help us with it. We will be departing tomorrow at 7 o' clock.

"Why didn't Taltos asked it himself?" I thought, but I had to say something, so... –Ok. Anyway, I did not have anything to do this week.

-Thank you. Do not worry, it is going to be something simple; not very dangerous. We will be back soon, I hope... and he is going to pay us for that! I also need your help for something else- he said. –Can you please locate the other samurai and tell her?

-Why don't you go and look for her?- I asked him. I did not like the sound of his voice that day... –The High-School building is only a couple of blocks away from here.

-Because you get along better with her- he answered. –Besides, I do not wish to go out today.

"Men! They are all the same!" –Ok, whatever, I will go. Besides, _I had been looking for an excuse to go out today_.

I went out and walked the couple of blocks it took to get to the High-School building... It was a very tall building, a little bigger than the ones that made up the University, but with kind of the same atmosphere around: very special people, like the ones I had sensed in the University... Lots of magic and other sources of power.

Anyway, I began to walk about the different halls, looking for the place where I could find the young semi-elf, while I thought: "Great! 'You get along better with her' How can he say that about a person whose name I do not even know!"

As I walked through one of those corridors, I felt this kind of strange energy running through my body, but it was just a small instant so, I did not bother to think about it a lot... Then I heard this small yell behind me. I turned around to see what had happened and, as I did, the young girl that had been staring at me with her eyes filled with fear broke into a run and disappeared behind the corner.

"Weird" was the only thing I got to think of before I found myself in front of the person I had been looking for.

I talked to her for a couple of minutes, explaining everything just as Bahamut had told me and she also accepted to join us... Now we only had to wait for what would happen the next day.

°°° (Next day. 7:00 a.m)

-Good morning- Taltos said as we got in the first ferryboat. –Well guys, thank you for helping me, I really appreciate it. This assignment will take us to what once was known as the state of Florida, in which was once known as the United States. Now this state is nothing but a great swamp filled with undeads- as soon as Taltos said the word "undeads", Árama began to scream (no one really understood why) and it took a couple of minutes to calm her down. –There may be a little town or two around- he continued. –But do not expect anything spectacular. Anyway, we have to find this abandoned Astronomical Research Area where I have to look for some information. That is all.

That is all? He said it as it was that simple. I should _really_ have to remember not to trust Bahamut's "nothing dangerous".

The ferryboat went to a stop in a really desolate place. Taltos had really meant a swamp when he said it... Everything around was muddy and jungle-like, even the little town that awaited for us as soon as we disembarked.

Before we disembarked we had decided that we would walk in small groups. Timmy would take the lead alone, since he was the biggest and the strongest looking one. Árama and Bahamut would follow him and Taltos, the young girl and I would stay in the back.

We entered the small town. There was not much left of it: just a tavern, a restaurant and a few small houses that seemed like they were about to fall down. While Timmy and the young girl stayed behind, Árama and Bahamut went to the tavern to look for information on the place we had to look for and Taltos and I went into the restaurant looking for the same.

-I am going to ask somebody- I said.

So, I entered the restaurant followed by Taltos and asked the man that stood behind the counter, but he would not answer anything but: "This people from the big cities and their complicated words". So, Taltos had to make it sound a little bit easier, since I had no idea of how to do that.

-Ah, you meant that great abandoned building in the North. Well, I've never been there, but there is a guy named Paco who would surely take you up there, if you pay well. You may find him in the tavern.

-Thank you.

We both went out of the restaurant to find the others. Árama and Bahamut had already returned to where Timmy and the young girl stayed. But they did not return alone. A man accompanied them; a not-so-young man that seemed to have been drawn out of the tavern for he looked like he had drunk quite a bit... Our guide, Paco.

Not quite sure about if this man was trustworthy but quite eager to get done with the assignment as fast as we could, we started following him North, until the night fell upon us.

We settled our little camp and ate some of the soup that came from Timmy's Christmas present; the rest was stored in the young girl's dusk of dryness.

We were preparing to spend a quiet night, as quiet as we could so we would not draw any attention upon us. Árama had decided to take that night's watch. She said she did not need to sleep anyway. But things did not turn out the way we expected...

Timmy had just left the camp for a while. He said he was just going to get his dragon something to eat (A/N: Timmy's dragon and Árama's wolf had also come with us), but we did not think he would use the new gun he had bought (I still don't know when) to get it. The only thing we heard was a loud gunshot and, in a couple of minutes, our camping place was surrounded by zombie wolves.

Once again I apologize if I cannot say most of what happened during the fight. Among the few things I can remember about what happened before I fell unconscious, I remember there were two wolves for each of us. Bahamut got rid of them immediately; his large sword had no problem to destroy both of them together. Árama and her wolf, Timmy and his dragon and the young girl got rid of one of them each. Taltos... well, I should not talk much about Taltos' display of bravery as he ran and hid on top of a tree... I seemed to be the only one who was having a lot of trouble with those horrible beings, but I kept fighting until I could not fight anymore.

When I opened my eyes again, after Árama used one of her spells to cure some of my wounds, there were no more zombie wolves. They told me that Bahamut and Timmy destroyed those that remained (at least the ones I was supposed to fight, 'cause I guess Árama and the young girl ended up with theirs by themselves).

Anyway, now that the zombie wolves were finally destroyed, I could not think of anything else than going away to sleep so, maybe by the morning I would be fine. So, that is exactly what we did. We all went to sleep while Árama watched over the camp for the rest of the night.

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Sorry to end things up this way, but that's how the game ended.

I also apologize once again for my pathetic display as a warrior, but the dice won't help much. I also know I could have used a very practical spell, but I got to see the spells I could use last Thursday. So, by the time we played this campaign, I didn't know I could Disrupt Undead. Sorry. And sorry if I write some things the wrong way. It is very difficult to play and write at the same time... I still don't know how to spell some things. I hope you understand them, anyway.

I don't know. I think this is the worst chapter I had ever written (except, perhaps, for the first part, up to January the 2nd).

Anyway, just tell me what you think about it.

I hope you keep reading. Next chapter will be:** Of Vampires, Scientific Discoveries and New Companionships**. What to do when one of your teammates is kidnapped by a vampire just in front of you? ... A great and very complicated discovery about the world we live in and... two new members join our little party...

Bye.

_Ruby._


	6. Chapter 5: Of Vampires, Scientific Disco...

Hi again! To make things a little bit simpler for me, I have decided that I would upload two chapters each time I do... (This means: wait for IntentO's next chapters on January the 29th... a very special date, by the way). 

There is nothing left to say. Here's chapter five. Enjoy it!

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**Chapter 5: Of Vampires, Scientific Discoveries and New Companionships.**

I suddenly opened my eyes.

It was still dark outside, but that loud sound woke me up with a start... Árama was supposed to be watching over the camp. Maybe she was in trouble...

I had not been the only one to awake because of that sound: the young semi-elf also got up and walked toward me, who had already got up and pulled my rapier out, just in case I would need it.

There was someone outside... And it was not just Árama. There was someone else with her. His long, white, hair shone under the dim moonlight, as well as his silver-colored eyes; he was clad in black, except for the bloody-red cape that hung above his shoulders.

He was about to reach her, but she would not move a single muscle... She just stood there; staring blankly at him, completely immobile... hypnotized.

-Wake the others up- I told the young girl as I got ready to attack that really strange guy... I had a terrible feeling about him. He was a vampire. I just knew it!

But none of us was fast enough... She went back into the tent, but the only ones she could wake up were Bahamut and Paco. Timmy and Taltos were impossible to wake up. As for myself, I hit nothing but plain air, since they both disappeared, turning into a cloud of smoke, as soon as he reached her hand.

-What happened?- Bahamut asked, still a little drowsy.

-Árama has been kidnapped- I said, as I walked back into the tent.

-What? No way!- he said. –Who is going to cure us now if we get wounded?

-I'm not going to stay here- our guide said as he began to walk out. –I said I wasn't going to keep helping you if any of this happened! You just have to keep walking north, until you get to that great abandoned building you were looking for! Now, pay what you owe me!

I paid him what Árama and Bahamut had promised when they hired him (two gold pieces)... He was right. Things were about to get very dangerous, and it was no use to expose someone who did not even know how to use a weapon just to get where we wanted (he would just stand in our way). Besides, all we had to do was to keep walking north...

-Wake Taltos and Timmy. We have to find Árama and get this assignment done.

We really tried to wake them up, but it was impossible. Timmy kept on sleeping and Taltos... Taltos had fallen unconscious (we still don't know how) while he worked on his computer, which was still on... Something was written on the screen.

Bahamut took Taltos' device and read out loud:

_Mr. Owlwing:_

_By this mean we inform you that Von Frederich University has sent you two more companions to help you with your assignment. Meet them at 4:30 am. They will be three kilometers away from you if you keep walking north. If you get there even one minute late, they will depart without you._

What should we do? Árama missing, Taltos unconscious... It was not going to be a good day. Anyway, we got everything ready for our departure. If we got lucky enough, our new companionships would help us to finish that stupid assignment and find Árama before anything happened to her.

Now, all we had to think about was what to do about Taltos and Timmy... Bahamut said he would carry Taltos but, since Timmy was to big and heavy to carry, we would leave him there with a note... a really simple note for him to understand (it just said "North"). We just hoped he could find us.

We began to walk straight ahead, the same way we had been walking since the day before. We walked for around half an hour until we met this young human guy who was walking in the opposite direction.

-Hey! You are from Von Frederich University, are you not?- he asked, as he drew closer.

-Yes, we are- Bahamut answered. –We had been sent here for a special assignment. Are you one of the new companions they sent to us?

-Yes, I am- he answered, as soon as he reached us. –My name is Aoi. I came to look for you.

-It is nice to meet you- I began. –My name is Gea. These are Bahamut and...

-Mashauri- the young girl finished, as she saw I did not finish what I was trying to say.

-Where is Taltos?- he asked.

-Here he is- Bahamut answered, he was still carrying Taltos in his arms, since he had not waken up yet. –Actually, we were six when we arrived here, but one of our teammates has been kidnapped, we hope you can help us to look for her. The other one should be arriving anytime. Wait a minute. Are you not our other roommate? (A/N: sorry about this, but they really kept like half an hour talking before they realized they were actually roommates and, I do not know if I had said it before, but Taltos and Bahamut were roommates, too).

-Yes, I am. But I have been working out since we got there- Aoi answered. –We should get going. The others must be waiting for us.

We had hardly walked a hundred meters when four gigantic scorpions blocked our way... Bahamut drew his sword out and sliced the creature that stood in front of him into pieces. I took my rapier out and as I drew nearer to attack... (I am really sorry to admit it now; I was really expecting this not to happen again, but sometimes I can be a really clumsy person)... I tripped on top of a rock and, as the scorpion did kind of the same thing, one fell on top of the other. (A/N: So sorry. Low dice scores for both of us). The young girl and Aoi got to hit them hard with their sword and gauntlet, but not enough to kill them. As for myself, when I finally took the thing off me, the rest was easy enough... The next time we attacked, the remaining scorpions were slain.

Just after our fight with the scorpions, we heard a few words coming from a little bit ahead from us... In a few seconds, our young girl had been infected with hives... Strange thing, since none of the rest was attacked and the attack ceased as soon as she got infected.

Anyway, we kept walking until we reached a Humer. A young woman was putting out the fire from what I could tell were the car's seats (A/N: the car's seats had been taken away) with some kind of white apron, while she scolded some kind of little robotic thing that ran around the place. Someone else came out of the car and handed her a fire extinguisher: it was Sianodell.

-I cannot believe it!- he told her. –When I went away, and I went away for just one minute, breakfast was almost ready and, when I came back, you burnt it completely!

-It was not my fault!- she answered. –Tormerick was supposed to watch the food- she turned to the little robot that kept running around. –Just wait until I get you, Tormerick! I am going to lose my whole life's salary to pay for this!

When the fire was finally over, the woman turned around and aimed a gun to Bahamut, the young girl and me.

-Take it easy- Aoi told her. –They came with me. These are the ones we had been looking for.

-Yes- Sianodell continued. –I know them.

-Ok- she said, putting her gun away. –Sorry about that. My name is Shiva Crowne. I work for Von Frederich University, Vincent campus, and had been sent here to help Mr. Nathaniel (alias Taltos) Owlwing. Where is he?

-Here he is- Bahamut answered, as he lied Taltos (had she called him Nathaniel?) on the ground.

-Ok. I guess we will have to do this on our own... Let's eat first and be off.

While Sianodell, Aoi and Shiva ate what fruits they could find in the forest, Bahamut, the young girl (whose urticaria had disappeared, leaving terrible scratches and red marks all over her body... about which Sianodell laughed for a great while) and I ate what we had spared in the girl's dusk of dryness the night before. After that, we got on the car and went away.

We drove for about half an hour when we finally reached our destination... But something was still bothering us: Árama. We had to find her before it was too late.

-Well, here we are- Shiva said, as the car came to a stop.

-Excuse me- Bahamut said. –But one of our companions was kidnapped a few hours ago. We would like to go and look for her.

-Why didn't you say that before? Ok, then- she replied. –We will split in two groups (the same ones that first came here) and you will have two hours to go and look for your friend.

-Two hours? We have no idea of where she might be... We need at least four hours to look for her and release her.

-Ok, let's do this- she said. –Tormerick will decide that. If he says I should give four hours, then you will have your four hours... Tormerick!

Finally, Bahamut, the young girl and I began to walk away with exactly four hours to find Árama and help her out, while the others looked for what was needed inside the building.

-So, what is exactly what we are looking for?- Bahamut asked, as we returned to the place where we met the others.

-Vampires- I answered. –They usually look for underground, populated places where they can find what they need to eat.

-Underground, populated places... like the one we just left behind?- Bahamut asked.

-Exactly! We have to go back!

We ran back to the abandoned building and found Shiva working on the large computer located at what seemed to be the building's lobby while Sianodell walked around the room (they had left Aoi watching for the equipment they had left in the car... and, by the way, he kept an eye on Taltos, too).

-Back already?- Shiva asked as she saw us entering the building again.

-We suspect our friend may be trapped somewhere inside this building.

-Ok, just wait a second, then- she said, as she printed something. –I have this place's map. Now it will be easier to know where we have to go.

We walked through a series of corridors, down some ladders and through some other corridors, filled with empty rooms. Suddenly, one of the walls at the far corner of the corridor we were walking through fell down into pieces, leading us to a pair of undead ogres.

Shiva, her tinny robot companion and Sianodell, who were walking ahead from the rest of us, began to fight the one that appeared first, while the other ran over to us... While Shiva and her robot (who had suddenly turned into Kormick, Tormerick's serious personality) tried to shoot the creature with their guns enclosed inside a force field, Sianodell created a pair of living skeletons to fight for him. Bahamut, the young semi-elf and I, on the other hand, fought using our own weapons (their pair of swords and my bow), damaging them as much as we could.

A terrible scream filled the whole place as Árama reached the corridor. As far as we could see, she was safe... very scared, but safe. She attacked the nearest ogre (the one Shiva and Sianodell's ghouls were fighting against) with her crossbow, damaging a little bit more.

As we attacked, I remembered a very useful spell that might help me this time; one of the only Necromancy spells I could keep some control on: Disrupt Undead. Maybe, if everything went fine, I could use it... I could not believe it when the spell worked! Anyway, it only worked once, but it helped a little bit.

As this happened (and after Árama had to mend her crossbow twice, since she broke it's string twice and one of Sianodell's creatures had been destroyed), one of Shiva's shots blew up the ogre they were fighting against, leaving the walls, floor, and part of Árama's outfit covered with the monster's remains.

Since the other ogre had been defeated, the others came to help us to finish up the other one (who immediately finished up the remaining ghoul of the ones Sianodell had created)... But it was a combined attack between Árama, Bahamut and Sianodell what finally destroyed the creature... Árama used a Produce Flame spell, while Bahamut and Sianodell attacked with their swords from opposite directions.

Just after we finished up those ogres, Shiva went away. She went to look for what she needed on her own. The rest of us remained in that corridor... Not a wise thing to do...

As we began to walk away, something strange happened to Sianodell... It looked as though he was trying to repel someone who was trying to enter his mind... We did not know what was going on until we looked up and found this white-haired, silver- eyed man all dressed in black, except for the bloody-red cape that hung above his shoulders, hanging from the ceiling... The same man that had kidnapped Árama.

-Come down, you coward!

And so it was... In a smoke cloud he disappeared from the ceiling and appeared back on the floor, right in front of us. Bahamut, Árama, the young girl and I tried to attack him (Sianodell kept trying to keep control of his own mind), but it was not enough. Our spells and weapons could not damage him.

Suddenly, the young semi-elf turned against Árama and hit her with her sword. As that happened, the vampire appeared behind me and trapped me... He bit me. I felt his fangs piercing deep into my skin as he began to drink my blood...

Bahamut tried to help me, trying to make him release me (or at least trying to attack him without harming me). Even I tried to release myself, but his grip was too tight.

Something strange happened then: He just let me go on his own and pushed me far away from him.

-Kihlstrom blood- he said. –I cannot hurt a Kihlstrom.

While the others kept trying to attack him (except the semi-elf, for obvious reasons), and I began to get close again to restart the attack, he turned into a black mist again and began to move away, walking on the room's ceiling. As he did that, the young girl regained control over herself.

-It is not over- he told Árama. –I leave now that I have found you, but we will see each other soon –then, he turned to me. –I apologize for what I did, miss. I did not know you were a Kihlstrom.

Gone.

We had decided to walk away from that place when we heard something from behind the wall that had been destroyed. The room behind that wall was a conference center some sort of video was being played.

We did not understand much of what the video said, since it was some scientific discovery that had been made in that place about the world we live in... Maybe about what had happened after the fusion, but I am going to tell you what I understood about it: It was a theory about something called "The Spark". Supposedly, that Spark thing could let anyone with enough power to control it to access the different planes. The discovery had been made when the people that worked there correlated magic with the dark matter thesis and made a new theory.

According to what they discovered, what we perceive is about a 10 to a 20 percent of what really exists but, what about the rest? That meant there were some abnormalities in the Big Bang Theory that had been accepted on Earth as a model of how the planets were formed... Inside the galaxies there had to be something else that kept them away... Acceleration had to be greater than what it was first thought to be like, and this acceleration was caused by a large source of pure energy. That is how they created the Plane Theory.

According to this theory, the diverse planes could be find in and around the Universe, all together, one after the other. Each of those planes has its own Spark. Three of them had been discovered up to that time, but they knew there were more planes with different Sparks, most of them (actually, 6 of them) had to do with the elementals. They also found that there were a celestial and an infernal plane (this last one made of different circles) and beyond this last one were a lot more layers, called the infinite chaos layers, beyond which everything was incomprehensible.

Really complicated stuff, that video. Anyway, we took a copy of the video and kept walking, looking for other stuff. We returned to the building's lobby and started looking for some other information in the main computer but, as none of us was really good for technology and the only one in our party that could understand computers was unconscious in the back of the car, we could only manage to find some useless computer programs (A/N: Sianodell found the Calculator, Paint and a Pinball game for Windows XP Millenium).

After half an hour of searching for important stuff, we finally found some information that could turn out to be useful, but how were we going to take it out from that machine? So, we started looking for somewhere to save that information, until Bahamut found a box, filled with diskettes (he also found a wallet, but there was almost nothing important inside it, just an access card).

We continued walking until we reached another room, but it was locked. Bahamut used the access card he had found and the door opened, but it was very dark inside so... Sianodell began to say that "Achu" should enter first (just in case that there was something inside) but, since she refused, he pushed her inside. The light was suddenly on and we found ourselves inside a smaller room with a smaller computer. There was not much inside it. Anyway, Bahamut found a little robot, like the one Shiva had, but a really antique model and we found a small savings bank, from which each of us obtained two hundred gold pieces.

The next room we entered on our way to the military machine room was just like the one where we had been before. There, Sianodell found a really strange device (I guess it is that antique device that humans used to call a palm sire, but I am still not sure) and we got some more information about what we needed.

Finally, we reached a Restricted Area... No one could enter it without an access card and a special permission but, what kind of special permission?

Anyway, since the usage of the access card alone did not open the door, Sianodell and Bahamut used their swords to open it... Not a wise idea, again... They activated the alarm, to which a human-sized robot attended, ready to stop the trespassers.

Árama, Sianodell and Bahamut tried again with their combined attack (this time, instead of producing flame, Árama would create a water mass to hit the creature), but this time it did not work the way they expected... Instead of hitting the creature, Árama's spell hit _me _(two gallons of water fell on top of my head!), but Sianodell and Bahamut's attack did destroy the creature... ten seconds before the bomb inside it blew up the place completely.

Fortunately, we could all leave the place and get inside the car in time. Shiva and the others were already waiting for us there, even Timmy, who was still sleeping in the back of the car...

°°° (Back in Von Frederich University)

It was a nice afternoon when we finally reached the University again. There was still not much to do since classes began on January the 10th, so the young girl and I had decided to join and watch Árama, Bahamut and Sianodell, who had decided to look for someone with whom they could practice their special combined attack (A/N: they really got excited with that special attack, so they used it all day long).

The University's gardens were filled with very interesting people practicing with their weapons and spells... Very special people, like I once said... A pair of young high school girls practiced their wind and watercaster skills. Somewhere else around the garden, a young man fought against a young looking, tall, bearded man. Not far away from them, "my favorite teacher" made a fire whirl to defeat the person he was fighting against.

-Hey! Nice to see you again- we heard this voice we already knew (A/N: Remember the Sentai Members we met on chapter 3?)

-Hi!- Árama called out for the red-haired elf clad in blue.

-How about another fight training?- asked the other red-haired guy. –This time we are really going to fight with all our power.

-Ok- Árama, Bahamut and Sianodell agreed. –But let's make it a little different: let's make it a team fight. Three of us against three of you.

They accepted our friends' challenge so, both red-haired guys and the delicate-looking guy Timmy had fought against last time would fight against them... But things did not turn out the way we expected because, though the young girl and I were just there to watch, the pink-haired girl and the strange-looking little guy defied us for a one- and-one fight.

Each of us used the same weapon we had been using the last time we fought against them (our friends have decided still not to used their combined attack until they needed it), but this time things were not as easy as the first time we faced them. We got to hit them, but they also got to hit us, and they were not leaving small wounds...

-Gather up!- their leader called. –Let's try our combined attack!

The pink-haired girl and the strange-looking little guy left the young girl and I and went away to join the others, who were fighting further away from us. The Sentai Members have already gathered and were preparing to attack when Árama entangled three of them (the girl, the odd little guy and the delicate-looking one). That was the opportunity for Sianodell and Bahamut to end up the five of them with their combined sword attack... The five of them were pushed far away from the place.

-I see you are good fighters- their leader said, as they stood up again and began to walk away. –We must have underestimated you, but next time we will not. Next time we will really give you everything we've got!

After they went away, we just kept walking around the gardens, watching the different kind of fights people were having. At some point as we did this, Sianodell's short sword went out of its shield and began to chase the young semi-elf, hitting her each time it got too close. It spent around four hours that way...

-You are really immature, did you know that?- I told him, but he seemed not to pay attention to me. –Anyway, I wanted to apologize for what we did to you back on Christmas night. I am sorry and I understand if now you have reconsidered your offering and you are not willing to train me anymore. Thank you, anyway.

-Hey- he answered. –Do not worry. I keep my offer, if you accept it.

-Of course. Just wait until I have my schedule and I will tell you when I can practice with you.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Ok, guys, this is everything I've got for today.

Next Saturday I promise to give you a Bonus Chapter: **Friendship Blooms.** It was not a part of the original Thursday campaign. My boyfriend –just for the record: my boyfriend is our DM-GM- and I made it up while we were having a telephone conversation. May Gea and Sianodell become good friends someday?

Also wait for chapter 6: **Surprise attacks and exorcisms. **A not so good first day of class and... A new mission for our young Mashauri to show what she's made of.

Well, that's all. You know what to do. Review, review, **_REVIEW_**! I love to know what you think about the story. I also accept small constructive criticisms and plot comments...

Bye.

_Ruby._

P.S: Just in case, again. It was Sianodell who con infected Mashauri with urticaria. And... something else. Shiva's robot, Tormerick, his got two personalities: Tormerick, who is kind of outgoing and completely crazy and Kormick, who is serious and a great fighter.


	7. Bonus Chapter 1: Friendship Blooms

Hi! Welcome to IntentO's bonus chapter #1. As I said before, it was not a part of the original Thursday campaign. My boyfriend and I made it up while we were having a telephone conversation.

Don't worry. Next Saturday you'll get your next two chapters, but as this is a special one, I wanted to give it alone (also, because if I didn't, chapter 5 would have been eternal).

So, what else can I say? Enjoy!

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

**Friendship Blooms**

**(Bonus Chapter #1)**

It was getting late. The night had already fallen over the University as Sianodell and I headed toward my building. The others had left a few hours before and he had offered to keep me company so I would not have to walk all that way alone.

-Thank you...- I said, as a way to break the silence between us. -...For keeping me company, even when your room is not even in the same building as mine.

-You are welcome- he answered. –Anyway, it is part of what I learned as a samurai... It is not correct to leave a lady alone.

-Ok- I said. I really did not like that comment. He just meant it like he was just doing it because he had to, because I was kind of "his responsibility".

We kept walking silently for another couple of minutes. Then, he asked me:

-You know how to upkeep your sword?

-No...- I answered. That one was a very strange question.

-Maybe I can teach you that, too- he said. –It is something really important. Actually, every night I clean my sword with a special kind of oil... It also makes the unsheathing easier. I learnt that when I my master sent me to the East, there is where I became what I am now. Have you ever been there?

-No- I answered, a little embarrassed. –I lived my whole life in Ionescu. This is the first time I really get to leave.

-I see...- he said. –May I invite you to have a cup of coffee?

-Why not- I answered. –But I would prefer something lighter. I really do not like coffee. It is too strong for me.

-Really? I did not know we were that much alike. Actually, I prefer tea. Have you ever heard of the tea ceremonies?

-No.

-Well, people back where I used to live were very traditionalist. They had a special ceremony to serve tea. Many people were trained in that art.

We reached the small cafeteria that was a few blocks away from my building and asked for two teacups. Then, he began to speak again...

-Tell me about your childhood.

-My childhood? Well, I cannot say much. I have lived my whole life with my mother... you met her while we were in my house. I grew up in that pathetic little town where you found me, where people hated me for what I am and for what I represent to them.

-I know what it feels like- he said. –I never met my parents. I grew up working as a slave for a family who hated drows. That was when my master found me. He picked me up and taught me a lot of things. It is because of him that I have got to know the whole world...

-Tell me about your master- I told him.

-My master... Well, he is also a drow. He uses his hair short... I have never really seen him smile. His eyes are always filled with some sort of melancholy and darkness, so it is hard to know what he is thinking of...

-That is strange- I told him. –You can usually know very much about one person just by looking into that person's eyes.

-But he is different... That is why he always beats me when I fight against him.

-Then, he must be very powerful, for I have always thought you are the strongest one in our party.

-I already knew that.

-Stop being so modest- that comment had annoyed me a little bit. –Anyway, I would like to meet your master someday.

-Yes... maybe someday, but I do not know where he is now- he seemed to lose himself in his own thoughts for a moment. –But he is not that powerful... There are many people much more powerful than he is. Mr. Strauss, for example.

-The University's headmaster?- I asked, a little puzzled. He did not seem like someone who had so much power inside himself.

-That is right... There is not many people who know that because his appearance is not that of someone that powerful, but he really is. Actually, his bodyguards are just some resource he uses to keep the appearance of a normal person, because he does not need them.

-Really?

-That is right.

We kept silent for another short while. Maybe this was what I needed to find out what was that thing I hated about him... But what we had talked about so far made me fear I was beginning to change my mind about him...

-I did not believe I could have such a serious conversation with you- I told him. Why was I saying that? Was I supposed to say it? What was I doing?

-Why do you say so?- he said, looking at me with curiosity.

-Because you are a great immature!

-What makes you think I am immature?

-And you dare to ask? The way you treat the young girl...

-Achu? She deserves it- he answered with a mischievous smile. –I still do not know how she dares to call herself a samurai... She is bad mannered, she does not have honor, she is not even brave!

-Well, she must have something that gave her that title...

-I am not sure. Besides, you cannot tell me that it was not fun when I infected her with hives...or when my sword chased her around the University's gardens- I could not help to laugh. –See? You are laughing... You have a nice smile.

-Thanks. But... don't you think it is enough?

-Enough?- he looked at me as if I had said something wrong. –I think it will be her the one to tell me when it is enough. Besides, I am only trying to teach her some things... and I am being good to her. I could treat her worst; I could even kill her if I wanted to.

-But to kill her you should have to get through me first.

-Interesting...-he said with a smile. –You have a great sense of justice. That is good- he changed the subject once more. –You know? I have always thought you were special, you have many interesting features. Actually, most people around us are really intriguing persons... Like your friend Árama- he said. –There are a lot of strange stories about her in the underground and, with that look she's got now, she looks like a movie star from the twentieth century- once again, I could not help to laugh. –I am telling the truth! Black hair, black clothes, sunglasses, dark skin... she looks like a shadow! I would not doubt that she scares you when she wakes up every morning... It might be like waking up beside an undead, or a shadow.

-Not that much- I replied. –I am her roommate and I have never seen her like that... It is because she worries a lot about her appearance... –he laughed. –I mean it! You should see her: Whenever there is a special occasion, she has to go shopping and she never leaves a shop without a bag.

-Yes, I think I have heard something about people like her... I think they are called compulsive buyers. I wonder where she learned that, if she is a druid.

-I do not know. Maybe she watched the people that passed by...

We both laughed. I could not believe what I was thinking but... maybe he was not that bad. Maybe he was still a little arrogant, but he did not seem as repulsive as he was when I first met him.

-I really never thought I could have this much fun with you- I admitted (definitely, I was talking too much that day).

-Hey! Why?

-I never liked you- I answered. –I always thought you were up to something.

-I know... Everybody thinks that about me before they get to know me well... It is because I am a drow. You know we are not very appreciated. But, what would I be up to?

-I do not know... so many secrets... Sometimes I thought that the girls were right and I thought so much kindness and chivalry towards me was something really strange.

-Well, that had a reason- he answered. –I was really up to something: I wanted to have a date with you and... now we are here so... wish granted.

There was a terrible minute of uncomfortable silence after he said that. What was I supposed to answer to that? What did I have to say? He really left me speechless.

-Actually, I would like to know what is her relationship with that vampire- he said turning the conversation over to where it had been before: Árama.

- I do not know. But, that thing bit me!- I said. –That is the only time I had seen my dark blood being good for something... If it had not being for it, I would be dead by now.

-That explains the scarf you have tied around your neck- he said, removing the scarf a little bit, uncovering the pair of holes on my neck. –That is the kind of wound that takes a long time to heal.

-I know- I answered. I really did not like to talk about that. –I would also like to know what is her relationship with my family.

-Your family?- he asked, impressed.

-Well, after the battle we had on December the 23rd, Aust appeared and, among the things he said, he called her "my godchild".

-He is your... father, right?- he asked. He really seemed a little uncomfortable to ask that.

-Unfortunately...

-I was really impressed to see a common elf manage necromancy like he did- he admitted.

-That is because he _is not_ a common elf- I answered. I felt a little annoyed... My father was really not my favorite conversation topic.

-I see... That explains it.

-I do not like to talk about him- I said, trying to leave the topic aside as fast as possible. –I am not very proud of my dark ancestry.

-Why not?- Great! Now I would have to keep on...

-Don't you think it is enough that because of him I have to bear this curse?

-Which curse?

-The Necromancer Touch- I answered, that conversation was really starting to annoy me. –And he still dares to say that it is a gift!

-I do not believe it is a curse, either- he said.

-You think it is not a curse?- I asked, giving him a hard, piercing look. –I have to bear this thing that I cannot control and that can come out any time with all its strength! It is because of this thing that I cannot become a firecaster like my mother!- I tried to calm myself down. –Besides, he said it himself when she decided to leave him: that if she dared to leave him, the creature inside her would be cursed.

-I see... But I still do not believe it is a curse- he kept on. –The way I see it, the Necromancer Touch _is_ a gift... You just have to learn how to control it. The small necromancy I have learned to handle has been a great virtue that has taken me part of my life to control- then; he asked me something that still keeps me thinking. –Are you sure that that is the curse you bear?

-What else could it be?

-I do not know...

-You know?- I asked him. I was not angry anymore, now I felt kind of weary. –Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if things had been different.

-Which way?

-I do not know. Just... different.

-I know what you mean- he said, I could sense some melancholy on his voice. –Sometimes, I used to ask myself what would have happened if I had got the chance to meet my parents... if I had a genesis. But that is past. Things did not happen that way and they will never change. Everything I can do is keep moving forward and prepare so I can become stronger and more sensible- his expression changed suddenly: he began to recover his smile. –Besides, if that had happened, maybe I would have never met my master... I really admire him really much. It is thanks to him that I have become what I am today... When he found me I did not even had a name... Sianodell is a name he made up for me.

-You know what it means?

-Jewel of the moon- he answered. –He told me that he gave me that name because, when he found me, my eyes shone like a pair of jewels under the full moon's light... –he really seemed proud of the man that had found him. –Maybe I am free now (I have been free for many years now), but once in a while I do little jobs for him, while I have some fun getting information in the underground.

-That is why you know so much!

-You would be welcome there, too- he said. –A drow always is... Of course, you should have really good information to sell.

-But I have not.

-Actually- he said, as if he had remembered something really important. –I found something really interesting about your mother and the Fire Circle.

-Really?

-Let me see... Siren Litvkah, right?

-Yes.

-According to what I have heard, the Fire Circle used to belong to one of the axis of the first wars that happened after the fusion. Among its members, there were many powerful firecasters (it was even said that their leader trained in the Elemental Plane of Fire), but its organization would soon come down when someone murdered its leader.

-Was it a traitor or someone from outside the group?

-Someone from outside the group, according to what I heard. After the fusion and the kingdom, the Circle became one more of the government's organizations. It is said that, among its members, one of the most prodigious was a young elf named Siren Litvkah, who got expelled under unknown reasons.

-I had never heard that story before- I said. It was really interesting to get to know all those things. –My mother does not talk much about when she belonged to the Circle. Ah... just for you to know: _he_ was the reason why she got expelled and why they will never accept me to join them: They know everything about me, about my ancestry, about my curse...

-I do not know- he said. –Maybe it is better this way.

-I do not know... Now I have many doubts about it, about... why did he pick precisely her? Why not anyone else?

-That I cannot tell... Men in his family have a _very_ odd taste when they pick their loved ones- he stood quiet for a while, as if he was thinking about something. –Hell's Black Fire- he said at last.

-What are you talking about?

-Hell's Black Fire and Heaven's White Fire: the most powerful fires that can be casted- he explained. –It is said that they are so powerful that even death fears Hell's Black Fire.

-But... why would he want to obtain that fire?

-You know what they say about those who possess the Necromancer Touch: They are able to play with death, but death plays with them, too... Maybe his interest headed that way. Besides, what could be a better price for such a prodigious firecaster like your mother than to get to cast one of the most powerful fires in the Universe...

-Are you suggesting that my mother joined my father because she wanted to? That she was really looking for that power he gave her?- I asked angrily.

-I do not know- he answered. -... Maybe not. I was just stating my theory.

-Well, then try not to make it sound that way!

-Ok, I am sorry. Besides, about your curse... I still think it does not go the way you think. Maybe his curse was just something he said because he was mad at her or it is something totally different from what you believe. Sometimes what you see as a terrible curse may turn out to be a great gift and your greatest virtue may become a curse- he kept silent for a small while. –About the Fire Circle... I still think that maybe it is better this way. That people is very boring and arrogant. You would not fit in among them.

-Don't you think I can be arrogant?

-Besides, you are better that way- he said, not paying attention to what I had said. –Now the Fire Circle is a government organization, which means that you would have to registrate and be at the government's service and, though it sounds like something good, it is not... That is the good thing about this University: People with special powers can control and use them without the needing of registration. Actually, do you remember the people we saw at the gardens this afternoon? The tall, bearded man who was fighting against a young, good-looking man?

-Yes.

-That tall, bearded man is the Social Sciences Faculty Dean... He is an earthcaster. A very powerful one, actually... The young, good-looking man he fought against was a celestial... Actually, no one else knows this, but Ian Strauss is a celestial, too.

-Really?- I asked, impressed.

-Of course! Have you not noticed that he has a certain beauty that is not very common in human beings?- he asked with a smile. -By the way... I have heard that there is being a really strange migration of celestials toward the Material Plane. I am going to ask that young man to see what he can tell me about it.

Celestials migrating toward the Material Plane? That was really something strange! There had to be a powerful reason for that migration, and I feared it was nothing good...

-Remember the video we found during our last mission?- I nodded. –I did not understand much of what it said, but I got that there is this thing called the Spark that let people move through the different planes... The people that worked in that place were trying to carry out experiments on that subject, mixing their knowledge about Physics with a little bit of magic, but they did not get much.

-Do you think someone may try and manage it?

-Yes, maybe. But it takes a lot of power to move through the different planes. I have only heard of a few people who can manage it. I think the University is going to try to follow those studies and carry them on...

-And... speaking about the University... I never got to know what you are going to study.

-I do not know.

-Wait a minute- I said, a little puzzled. –You have already registered and you do not know what you are in?

-I got in the first thing I found- he answered. –I really did not care. I would have loved to study Magic, like you do... But I cannot.

-Why not?

-You cannot teach an old dog new tricks- he said. –I have already learned all the magic I could learn... Even if I tried to, I cannot learn any more magic.

-You just gave up like that?- I asked. –I mean, do not get me wrong, but I know it is going to be very hard for me to become a great firecaster and I am not going to let anyone or anything stop me in my way to get what I want.

-Obstinacy can be good sometimes...

-Yes- I replied. –Specially when you have a teacher like the one I met during the Vocational Fair and the registration day... The one who was standing behind at the Magic stand.

-You mean Professor Drake- he said. –I have heard of him.

-I do not know his name. All I know is that ever since I reached this place, he keeps looking at me in this terrible way and treats me as if I was the worst scum he had ever seen. I think he is going to try to make my life miserable throughout this year... But I am not going to let him ruin my dream of becoming a firecaster.

-I heard that he used to belong to the Fire Circle, too... but he got expelled under unknown circumstances.

-Expelled?- I asked, a little bit shocked. –Are you sure about it? I mean... when I met him, he seemed pretty sure when he said that he had decided to leave the Fire Circle...

-I do not know... I am just telling you what I heard. If you do not believe me, you can write to your mother and ask her about him... But I think your letter will be reaching her in a month, because of the distance between that little town where you used to live and this island... Did they even had a post office in that place?

-But my mother does not live in Ionescu anymore- I told him. –She got a job in the city and moved there... Actually, I went to visit her for New Year.

-I see... I am glad for her- he said. Then, he turned his eyes to the necklace that hung around my neck. –May I take a look at the necklace you are wearing?- he asked. –I have noticed you always wear it.

-Of course- I said, as I showed him the trinket. –My mother gave it to me when I left Ionescu. She said that it would let her know how I am doing.

-Then that is why I felt some kind of magical aura around it- he said. –Did you know this symbol may be good and bad at the same time?

-No- I answered. –When my mother gave it to me all she said was that it would let her know how and where I am, that the only problem is that _he_ can also find me with it, but that it is better if both of them know where I am than if none of them knows how I am doing.

-Interesting way of thinking- he said. –What I mean is that it is good and bad at the same time because, if you look at it this way- he hid the black triangle from view. –It is a heart: symbol of love... but if you look at it this way- he showed me the trinket upside down. –It is a pentagram: symbol that humans used to consider as evil...- he looked at the clock that stood in the opposite wall of the room. –It is getting late. I think we should better go now.

I took my moneybag out, to pay for what I had taken, but he stopped me...

-Do not worry about it. I will pay for us both.

We began to walk in complete silence, as if we had said everything we wanted to say and we had no more to talk about... Silence can be pretty uncomfortable sometimes.

-By the way, my birthday is two weeks from today- I said. –I should want to celebrate it and I want all of you to be there.

-I will keep it in mind- he said, I could tell a little bit of melancholy in his voice. –I would like to know my birth date...

I felt bad for him. Living that lonely: without a family, without a name... without a past.

-I have an idea!- I said. –Why don't we celebrate it together?

-Sounds nice- he answered. –Besides, it was around that time that my master found me... I have always taken that date as my birthday...

-And so we can say we are birthday twins- we had finally reached the building. –By the way, I want to thank you once more for keeping me company.

-You are welcome- he said. –Good night, miss.

-Good night.

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Wow! Long chapter, isn't it? I thought my bonus chapters were going to be shorter than normal chapters, but this one got a little big too long...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

This chap goes for those who were expecting something to happen between Gea and Sianodell, though it was not much... But you have got some interesting information that may fill some holes in the story, or will help you understand what is about to happen.

If anyone from my party reads this: it is confidential information. The only characters that know about what we talked about are Sianodell and I. So sorry.

Well, you know what to do to make me happy! (review, review, review)... And wait for chapters 6 & 7 next week.

_Ruby._


	8. Chapter 6: Surprise Attacks and Exorcism...

_I dedicate this chapter to:_

_Alita (Árama), Wyla (Mashauri),_

_Alejandro (Bahamut), Mata (Taltos), _

_Harold (Timmy), Usiel (who sometimes plays Sianodell)_

_And Gabriel (Our DM-GM)._

_My party of seven, who spent_

_All this last campaign trying not_

_To kill the new guy..._

Hello! Happy birthday (actually, birth week) to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday dear Ruby! Happy birthday to me! You may remember that I once said that January the 29th is a very special date...

Yes, because one beautiful January the 29th (I am not going to tell you how many years ago!) this Costa Rican girl you all know as Rubymoon-Faith was born!

Ok... Enough of self-congratulations and let's get to what brought us here today.

First of all, I answer your reviews:

**AL:** Thanks for your review. I hope you like my story... though the world we created is a little bit different from the D&D world... I'm really trying my best to make it interesting!

Wow! A LV 14 Wilder Elf Druid!... I have never got that far... taking into account that I began to play D&D last year and I have been in three different campaigns (counting this one and a BESM d 20 one)... I think Gea is going to be my character to get a higher level, though must of my party have already got to LV 3 and I am still a LV 2 (buju! uu). Anyway, thanks for your support and for the help you're offering. Maybe someday I will be needing it... or I'll just write to keep in touch (I like to make mail pals).

**Mashauri: **Wyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Please stop being so modest. We have our good and bad times. We are not always such good players... and sometimes we mess things up... Yes, poor Yaashi. He's our party's little Kenny, but it's fun to see him die. Ah... and hurray for all the cute guys!

**Sara Fénix Black Sanders: **Hey, girl!Jajajajaja! You are introducing your cute Greg to me little by little... (sorry, I haven't still watched him directly). Anyway, it is not that impossible to understand your review... just a little bit. Yeah, I know this story is growing up faster than the other two, maybe next time we meet I will give you the copy of the document for you to read... And, of course I had to mention the fact that I have a boyfriend! If it wasn't for him, this story would not exist.

Now, I apologize if this chapter is a little bit shorter than the rest, but what I wrote in the few lines up here is real. We spent all this campaign trying not to kill the new guy who entered our campaign and monopolized the whole game, leaving us sitting without anything to do for four boring hours.

Anyway, here is chapter 6. Enjoy it!

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**Chapter 6: Surprise Attacks and Exorcisms**

My bedside alarm clock rang at 6 o'clock. Vanessa's did as well. Árama had already left the room... It was January the 10th, first day of class.

I got up and started to get everything ready before my first class of that day: Humanities, at 8 o' clock. Fortunately, Vanessa and I were going to be classmates in this subject so I would not have to spend the morning with a lot of strangers.

Before we entered the room, I found Bahamut, who was also waiting for the class to begin. Vanessa entered the room while I talked to Bahamut so, when we entered the auditorium (A/N: At our University, Humanities groups –depending on under which modality you take the course- are usually large groups of about 80 to 90 students so, they need something bigger than a classroom), it was already filled with people so, I could not find Vanessa again.

We took a pair of empty seats almost at the back of the auditorium as the professors entered the room and gave each of us the program of what we would be doing throughout the semester. Unfortunately, our Arcane Arts professor was going to be Professor Drake, who kept looking at me as if he wanted to tear me into pieces with his eyes.

At some point of the teachers' speech about what we were supposed to learn with each one of them, I felt this kind of strange energy running through my body (just like the one I had felt when I was walking by the High-School building when I was looking for the young girl a few days before). At the same time, the four girls that had been sitting behind us screamed and ran away from the class, still screaming.

A few seconds later, I had Professor Drake standing right in front of me.

-I want you to get out of this class! Now!

-What? You cannot do that- I replied. –That is not fair!

-And you dare to get troublesome after what you have done? You knew you were not supposed to do magic in class before you are told to. Didn't you, miss- he asked. –And you also know Necromancy is totally forbidden in this University... Get out.

I turned to Bahamut for a split second. "Come on, Bahamut! Are you not going to say anything? Stand up for me!"

Bahamut tried to defend me, but it was not enough for Professor Drake.

-I am not going anywhere- I said. Every inch of my body was trembling with fury and indignation. –What you are doing is not fair! I did not do that on purpose! I cannot control it!

-Who are you?

-My name is Gea...

-Well, miss- a feminine voice interrupted; it was the Biology professor. –Please just try not to do that again, Ok?

-I will try.

The rest of the class, up to the fifteen-minute break we had in between the five hours the class lasted, was peaceful for me... Except for the fact that Professor Drake kept looking at me, as if he expected me to make any single mistake to take me out of the class for good.

During the break, I went down to the building's cafeteria for a small snack. While I ate, I heard something was going on a few blocks away from where I was. It sounded like gunshots, lots of gunshots and explosions.

I walked out of the cafeteria and followed the shooting sound. In a few seconds I found myself in the middle of a crossfire battle. But I was not the only one there... the young semi-elf and a pair of her classmates were walking around there. According to what she told me, the High-School building had been evacuated and the students had been told to wait in the gardens until the situation was controlled.

As we talked, I saw Professor Drake walking in the middle of the crossfire, stopping the bullets with a fire blast as he walked inside the closest building. I decided to follow him, to see what was going on inside that building and the young girl decided to come with me.

We followed Professor Drake inside the building, but we lost his track once inside it, since we got stuck in the middle of another crossfire... To protect ourselves from the bullets, we entered the closest room, where we met Bahamut, Sianodell and Timmy, who had entered the building a few minutes before we did.

Sianodell was already at the other end of the room, since he had defeated the guy he had been fighting against. Bahamut and Timmy were each still fighting a pair of guys. Another guy lied unconscious at the other end of the room.

I walked straight to where Bahamut and Timmy were, preparing myself to try with the other Necromancy spell that I could maybe control: the Touch of Fatigue (if I concentrate a lot, I can manage two Necromancy spells: Disrupt Undead and Touch of Fatigue)... With one of my hands, I touched the face of one of the men my friends were fighting against and absorbed enough energy to leave him kneeling on the floor.

While that happened, Sianodell hurried back to where we stood and killed the remaining man with his sword.

-Please do not kill me- the man who was still kneeling on the floor pleaded. –I have wife and kids. Please have mercy! Do not kill me!

-Ok- Sianodell said. –We will not kill you if you tell us what is going on here.

-No. I cannot do that- the man insisted.

-Ok. Let's kill him, then.

-No! Ok... I am going to tell you what I know- the man said, as Sianodell and Bahamut drew their swords out. –Everything I know is that there is something going on at the main computer room.

We walked to the main computer room. Bahamut and Sianodell entered first. I think Timmy followed them, because he disappeared from beside us, like he used to do. By the time the young girl and I entered, Sianodell had thrown a table down and a bookshelf had been broken. Four men with guns were preparing to attack and... A woman had a sword aiming at Bahamut's throat as she spoke to him:

-Seems like you are still the same stupid, useless, Bahamut- she said in a kind of angry but sexy voice at the same time. –I was really enjoying that sake bottle that I stole from you...

As she spoke, I heard Sianodell whispering a few incomprehensible words and, when he finished, the woman let Bahamut go, as she took her hands to her stomach, bent over herself and ran away from the room as fast as she could.

When the woman ran away, and we were ready to attack the remaining four men, they threw a pair of smoke bombs and ran away... But they had not left us alone. We heard a small "click" as they ran away. They had left us with a grenade! That meant that the whole building was going to blow up in a few seconds!

-Run!

I had not begun to run when I felt someone lifted me up as we moved forward at an incredible speed. As we came out to the light of the broad morning, I clearly recognized the person who was carrying me: it was Sianodell.

In less than ten seconds the building blew up, but we were all already outside. Well, actually not all of us were already outside... The young girl was still inside the building when it blew up. Anyway, she had managed to survive. She appeared a few minutes after the explosion, heavily wounded and covered by dust...

In one of the University's gardens, a few meters away from where we stood, we saw Professor Drake and the young-looking, tall, bearded man (the one Sianodell told me was the Social Sciences Faculty Dean) trying to fight against a giant robot (A/N: a mecha).

It was a very uneven battle... Neither of the professors could do anything against that robot. Even when Professor Drake gave full power to his scourging rays and the earthcaster did the same with the giant rock peaks that tried to pierce its metallic surface, the robot seemed immune to their magic.

At some point of this uneven battle, the robot attacked, leaving both professors unconscious. At the same time, someone was ejected from the robot's pilot cabin and fell, totally unconscious, over the young semi-elf: He was a young human, maybe her age or a little bit younger.

Sianodell tried to run as fast as he could (A/N: Sianodell's got a special ability called Speed, with which he can run up to a hundred miles per hour) to reach the robot's pilot cabin and turn it off before something else happened, but he did not count on the fact that the robot's force field was still activated and it repelled him. Timmy, on the other hand, had appeared on top of the robot's head, but he fell off it immediately. There was nothing we could do, at least not if the force field was still on.

Suddenly, a magical flame hit the force field and made it flicker, leaving enough time for Sianodell to pass through it... Árama and Taltos had arrived, and Árama's Produce Flame was strong enough to damage the force field a little bit.

Anyway, having Sianodell in the robot's pilot cabin did not help much either (I am really sorry to say this, but we all need computer classes urgently). He asked Taltos for help but, since Taltos did not tell him much of what he had to do, he tried every single button around him (REALLY BAD IDEA).

In a few seconds, the thing got crazy. It took off a few feet from the ground and began to spin around itself, throwing grenades to everything that moved...

Timmy, who had got back on top of the robot, got to disable its legs, but it was not enough. One of the explosions got to hit me, but not very hard. What really worried us was that it was aiming its ion pistol at the young girl...

When the attack was about to reach her, the young human boy who had just fallen on top of her got in the way and received the shot... The ion beam killed him immediately. It was a gruesome scene to watch: he was torn into pieces, his blood covered the semi-elf from head to toes...

As the robot kept spinning around, Timmy kept climbing until he reached the robot's chest. He hit it with his giant club and uncovered the robot's main cables. He hit it once more, cutting most of the cables, but nothing seemed to happen... Suddenly, Sianodell ran out of the robot's pilot cabin and carried me away once more. The robot was about to blow up.

The robot blew up, but this time no one got injured with the explosion. We could all get out on time (Árama and Taltos had helped to carry the professors away).

After the robot was destroyed, we were called to give a whole inform on what had happened. Fortunately, though we had destroyed University's property, we did not have to pay for it. They said that, since we had saved many lives that day, our debt had been cancelled...

The young woman who talked to us also told the young semi-elf not to worry, that Yaashi (a few days later I got to know that she was talking about the human boy who saved her that day) was still alive and that he was going to be Ok... That was something hard to believe! We had seen him die! We saw the young girl covered with his blood! Anyway, that was what she said.

°°° (Second week)

It was a Friday afternoon. I was taking a walk around the campus when I heard someone calling me: it was the young girl. She said she needed my help (actually, the party's help) to fulfill a mission that had been entrusted to her... According to what she said, the people at her High-School had found out about her special ability to exorcise and had sent her to a special mission in an abandoned mansion found in some island close to New Shanghai, China, which was said to be haunted.

I agreed to help her and the rest of the party did, too. So, the next day, we left the University and headed to China...

I do not know quite sure what happened while most of us were looking for someone to rent us a boat to get to the mansion but, when we were back in the city's main streets, there were several men lying on the floor in front of the tavern; Sianodell and Bahamut were standing in front of the tavern's door; Timmy stood on the building's roof... There were like 40 or 50 other men approaching the tavern from the main street! Meanwhile, a young man tried to reason with the man who seemed to be the group's leader... That man had three of his men aiming heavy guns at Timmy.

Finally, things seemed to settle down and the group went away, letting us get where the others stood to ask them what had happened.

-Your friend did something really stupid- said the young man who had been reasoning with the group's leader. –He messed up with a group of Yakuza... If you mess up with one of them, you will have all of them following you, until they get to kill you. Now, thanks to him, I will have to come with you, because I have just made a blood pact with their leader: He will spare all of your lives if I bring him a painting that is located in Shian mansion's living room- he began to walk away, followed by his two companions (a man and a woman), but he turned around once more. –Ah, and next time you come around here, do not bring him. They will kill him if they see him around.

That did not sound very polite. There was something about that guy that I did not like, though I did not say anything... Maybe it was the way in which he said it; so haughty, so "I know it all and you do not so, shut up and let the professionals work". Unbearable... I began to fear it was going to be a loooooong journey.

Anyway, it was around mid-day when we got in the ship and departed with our new companions... According to what our guide and ship captain said, that mansion had been abandoned for many years, and it was always surrounded with the smell of death and destruction... Those who dared to approach it were few.

We disembarked and began to walk toward the mansion... Our guide had been right: there was really a smell of death and destruction around the place. It really gave me the chills to walk around the isolated three-story house's front yard... The grass had already gone yellow and it grew up to our knees; at the right corner of the garden, a single tree grew tall and leafless; but what got our attention was the statue that stood in the middle of the yard: It was an elf... a very elegant-looking elf male, maybe the house's owner, for in a golden plate at the statue's feet we red a birth and death date and a very strange phrase that no one seemed to understand: "When angels cry blood, the insects of the fig bloom".

Before we entered the house, that young man we had met a few minutes before decided to search the garden for black lotus... Five of them he found in the fountain that surrounded the statue. He carefully took them out with his sword and placed them in small bags (one of which he placed inside one of his pants' pockets) and lend a petal to his pair of companions... keeping the rest for himself.

It did not take too much of an effort to open the door, since the house was too old. The first floor was almost empty... except for another statue... It was a female elf with wings... angel wings.

Now, guess who searched the statue to see what was so special about it? (A/N: ain't my fault, he wanted to do everything). He found a small closed compartment within the rock, in which there was some sort of strange thing shaped like an insect but, though he tried to manipulate it with all his strength, nothing seemed to happen.

We decided to leave the statue alone for a while and keep walking up to the second floor... Whatever the phrase in the golden plate meant, it had to do with that statue and it did not sound like anything good.

We took a walk around the second floor. It was very extensive, and room doors surrounded its only corridor, but each and every single one of those rooms was completely empty. The white sheets that were supposed to be covering the furniture were spread throughout the floor, covered with ashes... wood ashes. Everything was all the same until we got to a place where the corridor branched of in two different directions: one of them headed to another room and the other one headed to another staircase.

We decided to enter the room first... Maybe there would not be anything special about it; just the same things that we found in the other rooms. But this time we were mistaken...

It was a large room; it did not have any furniture, just like every other room in the house, but there was something that made it different from the rest: a painting. This painting showed a group of elves (both common and dark elves) dressed as if for a party. But there was something missing... There was an empty square in the middle of the painting, as if someone had cut something out from it... That had to be the painting that man had asked for! But why would he want it?...

Sianodell carefully took the painting off its frame and placed it inside his pack, while the new girl examined what could be seen from the window... She saw a greenhouse and what might have once been a swimming pool at the back garden and some kind of tower that connected the whole house... That was when our group got to split apart: The three new guys, Timmy and the semi-elf went to the back garden to see what they could find there. Sianodell, Bahamut, Taltos, Árama and I stayed inside the house and climbed up to the third floor.

As we walked through the third floor, we saw exactly the same things we had seen in the second floor, until we reached the library... It seemed like the library was the only place in that house that had remained intact. High, full bookshelves covered all the four walls.

Up there, we started to look for a book that could tell us something about the painting. But... where to start in such a huge library?

It was Sianodell who finally found something about the painting. It was some sort of diary what he kept in his hands. There, we found a small copy of the painting, where we could find out what the missing part looked like: it was a young couple. He was a dark elf; she was a common elf. They were tightly embraced and seemed really happy.

Sianodell turned the book and gave it to me, so I could read the names on the page next to the one where the copy of the painting was, to see if maybe I could recognize anyone in it.

I read carefully. There were so many names, but their order did not seem to match with the painting... Bla, bla, bla, bla... Galanodell, bla, bla bla... Litvkah, bla, bla, bla... Kihlstrom... So, my parents had been there. I did not know why, but that was not a comforting thought... It was such a shame that the names did not match the painting! I could have maybe seen my father as he really is, but it was impossible.

According to what we read next, the painting was made during a party... An engagement party for one of the members of the Galanodell family, but something happened and the wedding never took place... That did not give me a good feeling.

As we read, Árama climbed a few stairs and found the entrance to another room. Right behind the door she found a wedding dress, which she packed among her things.

It was beginning to get dark when we began to hear something downstairs... Music. It was a very old elven melody... We followed the sound and found ourselves back in the living room, but there was something different inside it this time.

There were shadows, many shadows dancing around the room. We decided to keep watching, to see what could have happened that night... Nothing seemed to change much until the sun finally set. Suddenly, one shadow stepped in the middle of the room, followed by a few others, which started to attack and murder the other shadows in the room. Only a few shadows seemed not to be attacked... I knew my father had something to do with it!

The others arrived just in the middle of the massacre. Timmy handed me aroll of parchmentwith a spell written on it; they had found it in a secret room under the greenhouse.

Suddenly, one of those shadows began to take shape and popped out from the wall: It was the dark elven guy who had been cut out from the painting. He was only wearing the pair of pants he had been wearing in the picture... he just walked out from the room, not even paying attention to us. Another shadow took shape after he did: It was the young elven girl that appeared in the picture with him. She had just left the wall when she flew up to the roof and went through it.

Soon after this happened, one of our new companions (A/N: Guess who? And please don't ask why) opened a hole in the roof... Bad idea... The same vampire that had once kidnapped Árama appeared from what seemed to be another room upstairs and went down the hole that had just been opened. This vampire took Sianodell's chin, looked deeply into his eyes and went away, taking Árama with him once again.

Great! There was not a way in which things could get worse now, was there?

It turned out that things _could_ get worse because, as soon as the vampire left, Sianodell turned against us and attacked one of our new companions (A/N: Guess who and why?). The young man tried to defend himself using the black lotus he had placed inside his pants' pocket, but he did not have any luck since he did not count on the fact that Sianodell was wearing a force field ring that repelled his attack (same attack that he received, for he had dared to touch the black lotus with his bare hands).

Now we were in trouble. What could we do to get through Sianodell without harming him?

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**Author's Note: **

**Mecha: **Giant battle armors, or mechanical exoarmors (like those in Gundam and Evangelion) with humanoid shape, equipped with giant weapons.

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Well, that is all for today... I guess it did not turn out to be a very short chapter after all (taking into account we spent half of the time we actually played doing nothing... or maybe it is because I got excited with the description of the mansion).

Anyway, I hope you liked it. Keep reading if you want to know what actually happened inside the mansion. Chapter 7 will be **"In Love and Death". **I guess the title says it all... A very ancient love and death story that took place at the Shian mansion. Will Mashauri get to fulfill her mission? (It also contains a small introduction to our Sports Festival).

Well, you know what to do now... **_REVIEW!_**

Bye, bye...

_Ruby._

P.S: I need your help to decide upon something... My DM-GM said he is going to give me the specialization in the Fire Domain but to get it, I will have to give up one of the Sorcerer/Wizard magical schools, with some restrictions... He said I cannot give up Evocation, Divination and, obviously, Necromancy... Send your answers with your reviews...


	9. Chapter 7: In Love and Death

Hi! Here's the second part of what happened inside the Shian mansion. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! First part is full of mystery and suspense... second part, well, you know our party... It is kind of a joke.

I apologize if I do not name the three guys that appeared when we visited the mansion in chapter 6, but they did not play this time so, just act like they had gone away after one of them fell when Sianodell attacked him.

Enjoy it!

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**Chapter 7: In Love and Death.**

He gave a deep, almost evil-looking glance at each of us and drew out his flaming sword. He tried to attack Timmy, but missed. None of us knew what to do; he was our friend, we really did not want to hurt him (well, must of us, because Timmy did try to strike back).

Once again, he tried to attack. This time Bahamut was his target. Once again, he missed.

I suddenly had an idea, but it was not going to be easy to try it if he could activate that force field ring of his to repel me... or if he discovered what I was trying to do and would not let me get close to him...

It was a really simple idea. If I could get close enough to him, maybe I could perform my Touch of Fatigue. It would be a quick way to stop him from attacking us without harming him... a lot.

I told my companions what I was planning to do and Bahamut said he would help me, that he would try and stop Sianodell for me to get to him and perform my spell... It did not turn out so good, but I took advantage of the diversion Bahamut was creating to perform my spell and... It worked! Sianodell fell kneeling on the floor, using his sword to help him keep balance to stay up.

Since Sianodell had been stopped for a short while, the young girl ran toward the door and opened it... There was still another staircase to climb and she had to get her job done.

Anyway, my spell could not do anything against Sianodell's stubbornness... He suddenly stood up again, as weak as he was, and attacked Timmy, missing him once again. Then, Taltos used his pepper spray and blinded Sianodell for a while, during which we ran upstairs, losing Sianodell's track.

What we found upstairs was a single room, in which the only decoration was a black ceiling and a wardrobe placed at the far wall. As soon as we entered, I felt there was some kind of secret door behind one of the room's walls... maybe the one in which the wardrobe was located, but that was not all...

We felt there was something streaming down upon our heads, but we did not realize what it was until it was too late... The thing upon our heads tied itself around our necks and lifted us from the floor, beginning to strangle us... They were long threads of black hair.

Taltos and the young girl got to free themselves, using their knife and sword. Timmy bit the hair thread around his neck, making it let go of him. Bahamut and I, on the other hand, were having some trouble as we tried to get free... Each time we tried, we got a little bit more suffocated, until it was almost impossible to breath.

We were about to get suffocated when we saw where the hairs came from. We all looked up and saw the pale face of a woman appearing through the ceiling. She was pale and emaciated, and she stared blankly at us with her wide-opened black eyes, as she spoke unintelligible words... She started to go down until the whole upper part of her body (up to her torso) could be seen.

After many minutes of battling against the hair threads that were suffocating us, Bahamut and I finally got free. As we did, the woman fell off the roof and appeared right in the middle of us.

What could we do against her? Timmy tired to hit her, but his attack ran through her, as if she was not there... She was a ghost. That meant no physical attack was worthy against her... only a few magic or some magical items.

Fortunately, as part of her items for the mission she had to accomplish, our young semi-elf had been given a special dagger... one with a powerful spell that could only harm incorporeal creatures. She used it against this ghost, making her give a terrible scream, as a hole appeared in one of her legs... As the ghost dragged herself on the floor, she bit Timmy, who ran up to the wall were the wardrobe was located and broke it with his giant club, leaving an opening through which a new staircase appeared.

Anyway, we could not get through the door if we had that ghost to fight against... I tried a spell, but it did not work much so, once again, the young girl stabbed the ghost with her dagger and it disappeared through the floor, screaming...

Bahamut, Timmy and I went up to reach the new staircase, while Taltos and the young girl went back to the library to look for something... As we climbed the stairs, the young girl and Taltos came running to us, followed by a pack of wolves.

We kept climbing, faster and faster, trying to avoid the wolves that chased after us. There was an open door at the right end of the staircase... The last door in the whole house. There was where we had to head!

We finally reached the door. The room was some kind of observatory: its ceiling was completely transparent, letting us stare into the dark, star-filled, night sky... Árama sat in the middle of the room, while the young dark elf that had just appeared in the living room (A/N: remember the shadow that suddenly took shape?) began to walk toward her.

We tried to enter the room, but our only way in was suddenly blocked by that vampire... He stood right in the middle of the doorway and began to read theroll of parchmenthe had in his hand, creating a force field that did not let us get any further from where we were.

Things were not getting any good for us. Now we were trapped. We could not go further because of the force field that had been placed on the doorway, and we could not go back since we had a pack of wolves chasing after us.

While I tried to decipher a way to get through that force field, Bahamut, Taltos, the young girl and Timmy began to fight against the wolves that were trying to attack us. Timmy jumped on top of them and smashed a couple of them, but one of them got to bite him... The others kept attacking and got to kill a few of them, but there were still five wolves to fight against.

As this happened, inside the room, the wedding dress Árama had packed up some minutes before came out her backpack and surrounded her, as if she was putting it on.

-My wishes are finally going to come true- I heard her say. –But this happiness is driving me crazy.

-I have always waited for you- the young dark elf answered. –I have cried and died for you, my love, because I do not want to lose you... For in joy and death my home is in your arms.

-So- I could hear Árama say. –Finish what you began, Laucien! Transform me! You promised me! You said we would be together forever- she made a small cut in her neck and got ready for him to bite her.

He debated himself between his own thoughts and his blood thirst... He looked so weak, so pale, even for a dark elf... He really needed that blood she was willing to give him. He was about to give up to that young, frail body offering itself to him when the other vampire pushed him away, aiming a knife at his throat (A/N: the vampire had made a cut in one of his hands, marking theparchment rollwith his blood and kept it open with a pair of knives, so the spell kept working) and told him:

-Remember why you did not do it when you had the chance to.

Árama looked back at them and asked the one she had called Laucien please not to kill her, that he knew she was not the one who was asking that... He thought about it and just said:

-Leave Árama alone.

The ghost we had fought against a while before left Árama's body and got close to him. Her hands pierced deep into his ribs and a lot of wounds, like knife cuts, appeared throughout his body.

-Now all I see is your scars- she said. –I know where they are from. I just see you on your knees, begging... You hardly walk with your open arms, asking for more.

-We have been blessed- he answered. –But there is no cure for this pain. Right now my wounds are willing for my penance; I am lost in the divine suffering, because in your sweet torment is where I am willing. I cannot handle this pain, but I cannot close my heart because I do not want to let you down. I do not wish for the shame of all those promises we made and did not keep.

-But promises are made to be broken and forgotten. They are just words said to destroy, and they are so trivial and unnecessary, because all they can only cause harm. That is why I have lost my faith in you, because I cannot see them in your eyes, or feel them in your touch, or taste them in your lips, making me doubt about your love for me... And no one is going to love you like I did, but it is now too late because pain had turned to love and love to hate.

-Just believe me: I am so in love with you; you are everything I had ever wished for... I wanted to live my whole life with you, to make you happy... But I never wanted you to suffer. I never wished for you to spend an eternity in darkness... you did not deserve it.

She gave a shrill laugh.

-I look into the sockets of your eyes, which are now so dry, without any tears to drop anymore... How can I trust you if I know your tears have been taken away from you? You never wanted our hearts to open to the infinite feeling because the more we have; the more we want of what fills our hearts... So, whether you like it or not, this will always end in dead tears, for you have already decided for death and not for love, and love always ends up in tears.

Back on the staircase, the others kept trying to stop the wolves when this dark figure appeared behind the wolves and killed the remaining five with his sword: it was Sianodell. It seemed like he was back to his old self again.

-What is going on here- he asked me.

-Well...- I explained everything that had happened to him. –We cannot trespass the force field he created- I pointed at the vampire that stood at the door. –There is nothing we can do... and Árama is back there with another vampire!

Suddenly, the vampire that stood in the doorway backed away. He closed the parchment roll he had been reading and tore it down to pieces, breaking the spell.

I ran over to Árama and asked her if she was alright, if she had not been harmed.

-I am alright- she answered. –Not thanks to you, but I am.

Meanwhile, the young girl had begun her exorcism ritual. She placed a few candles around herself and said a few ritual prayers out loud... It slowly began to work: the ghost's feet slowly began to fade away. But that did not make Laucien very happy.

-You are not going to take my sweet torment away from me- he walked over to the young girl and attacked her. Then, he went back with his girlfriend.

But the semi-elf would not give up that easy. She began with her prayers again.

This time the ghost faded away almost completely... the only remaining part of her body was her head. It was almost over!

Anyway, when the young girl was about to say her last prayer, the other vampire took her by the neck, lifted her a little bit and told her to wait.

-Wherever you are, I belong there- Laucien told the ghost, as he held her head in his arms. –And a part of me will always be with you. So, let me be closer to you. Even if it is for this one last time, let me take you into my arms, like when love and death embrace.

-All this time we had to wait for what had been predestinated to us, and now it is too late... You are so alone and I am ready to disappear- she said in a sad but resigned voice. –I know the feeling of all the things that were left to say because I was never able to understand: Did you ever love me, Laucien?

The ghost's head had finally disappeared without an answer to her last question.

Laucien let out a horrible scream, but he was too weak to get up. He just gave a furious look to each of us and finally discharged his anger against the other vampire, taking him by the neck and lifting him from the floor.

-Why did you do that?

-I did it all just for you, master... I wanted to give you something beyond your redemption because if you fall lower, no one could ever catch you.

His hand turned into a wolve's mouth. Its sharp teeth bit Talmios while he was hanging in midair. Then, he made a large cut in one of his own arms and placed the wound in Talmios' mouth, so he had to drink from it.

-If you betray my confidence; I shall have to leave you. Remember what I taught you... But if I see you ever again, I will have to slay you.

When he had done this, Laucien pushed Talmios against the wall, leaving him unconscious (as far as we could see) and turned into a mist, disappearing through the window, toward the night.

Before we left the room, we searched it for the missing part of the painting... It was there, actually, placed in the far corner of the room, surrounded by dried red roses. Sianodell took it and placed it in his pack with the other part.

As we left the room, Talmios got up from the floor and looked at us. We got ready to attack.

-Do not worry, I am not going to try and attack you today- he said. –You helped me to help my master. But next time we meet, things are going to be different... I am a complete vampire now, so you will have to be careful.

He went away.

All of us began to run downstairs but, when we were about to reach the library, Talmios appeared again.

-Who was the one who broke my coffin?

We all looked at each other. I did not recall anyone breaking a coffin... At least none of the ones that had remained inside the house while the others searched the back yard. We were in trouble if he was willing to harm the one who had broken it. And, suddenly, Taltos gave a great display of his bluffing capacity:

-It was the young ninja that we left downstairs.

I guess it was because he had been week; or maybe because he was still grateful for what we had done for his master, because he just let us go...

We kept walking down, until we reached the house's front yard again. Back there, I looked at theroll of parchmentTimmy gave me back inside the mansion. It was a really simple spell... All I needed was a few things and _a tree: _the tree that was located at the right corner of the garden.

We began to walk toward it, so I could perform the spell... I do not know how he did it but, when we reached the tree, Timmy was already there, cutting off some of the tree's branches to make long, sharp stakes... We had to stop him from destroying the whole tree or my spell would not work.

When Timmy had finally left the tree alone, I placed the objects needed for the spell (some leafs and rocks of a certain kind) around the tree's trunk and said the few words written on the parchment. Suddenly, every single branch in the tree was illuminated by thousands of little lights.

Was that everything the spell was about? I could not believe it!

We suddenly remembered something: the statue we had bound in the first floor! We still had to find out what it had to do with the inscription in the golden plate! So, we decided to re-enter the mansion and, while Taltos went up to the library to look for some interesting books to study, the rest of us remained in the first floor, examining the statue.

Surprisingly, the statue had changed its position: it was not facing the door anymore; it was now facing the staircase... and its eyes had turned red!

Bahamut tried the secret compartment that had been discovered a few hours before and manipulated the insect-shaped device, turning it sideways, as if it was some sort of key. As he did that, red blood drops began to stream down the statue's eyes and a second secret compartment opened up under the first one.

It was a small compartment, filled with a small chest. Bahamut took it out. It was closed, and there seemed to be any key around to open it. I asked him to give it to me and performed an Open/Close spell to open it.

Inside the chest we found some sort of letter, filled with symbols and written in a language that none of us could identify. We decided to give it to Taltos when he came back to where we were for him to use the healm he received as a Christmas present to read it... He did so, but the only thing he said was that it was some kind of poem written in some type of infernal script, but that it would take him a pair of weeks to decipher its meaning. So, we let him keep the letter.

But that was not the only thing inside the chest: there were also six cameos shaped like small bugs, each of them with a different colored gem on it.

I closed the chest again and put it inside my backpack. I would keep it until we knew what that chest was about. If it was not anything wrong, I had promised my companions to give a cameo to each one of them...

So, with our job at the Shian mansion finally done and part of the secret of the statues finally revealed, we headed back to the University. But, before we did that, Sianodell went back to New Shanghai to deliver the painting, as that young man had promised. We outside the city, keeping Timmy as far away from it as we could.

°°° (Back at the University)

We arrived just in time for the University's sport and cultural festival: A whole day to have fun, practice sports, play, sing (A/N: We had a karaoke night! Haven't I told you that I love karaoke nights?)... A perfect day after a fulfilled mission! ... The only bad thing was that it was an obligation to be enlisted on at least one sport's competition. And so we did.

First, we watched a very interesting tennis game between one of the young semi-elf's classmates, named Yayoi and a University student. The high school girl won the match. Our young girl's team won a soccer match... It was actually her who scored the five goals that made them win. Taltos did not seem very happy when a high school student defeated him on a race, but there was nothing he could do against her: she really ran like the wind. Bahamut got to win second place at the archery contest. Árama, who had decided to practice fencing, got to be in the finals, but she lost her last match. Timmy would from then on be known as "the Great Orcish Barrier", for his impenetrable defense had won his team a football match... As for myself, my baseball team lost a very tied match against the Professors. The Social Sciences Faculty Dean hit the homerun that gave them the victory.

After the sport matches were over, we decided to go and look for something interesting to do. The young semi-elf said she would not be joining us, since she had a date with Yaashi (A/N: remember the young human who had saved her from the giant robot's ion pistol and died and then was said to be not dead?): He had invited her to the small fair that had been settled for the festival.

As we walked around the University, we were asked to play a friendly beach volleyball game against the group of Sentai Members we had met before we reached the University for the first time (A/N: Picture all of our characters playing volleyball on a sand field, dressed in bathing suits... Boys! Can't they think of anything else than seeing pretty girls in bikinis?). All of us accepted, except Taltos, who sat among the crowd with his video camera and recorded everything that happened (I think he had also settled the gambles for the game).

Suddenly, our little friendly volleyball game turned out not so friendly... They were actually winning, but we were also beating them up... Yes, I know it sounds kind of weird, but Timmy had broken the delicate-looking guy's nose and hit the little one plenty of times, until he was not able to play anymore and had to be replaced. His replacement was the young girl's classmate: Yayoi.

I am still not quite sure of how this happened, but as Árama sent a pass back to the opposite side, the ball hit the pink-haired girl's face, leaving a horrible purple mark on her cheek. Suddenly, without any apparent reason, Árama just went to the opposite side of the field and began to hit the pink-haired girl... That was when the game officially turned into a battlefield... Actually, it was a mud battlefield because, for some strange reason I cannot explain yet, a magical rain fell over our team's opposite side when we were losing the game.

Árama kept hitting the pink-haired girl, while Timmy began to attack her remaining teammates using everything that stood on his way (and not only those who remained, he also tried to attack the poor little guy he had sent out with one of the poles that kept he net standing).

On one occasion, as the poor girl tried to defend herself (calling her "poor girl" does not mean that I like her, but I still do not understand why Árama did that), Árama untied the knots that kept her bathing suit on, leaving the poor girl completely naked... As if that was not enough, she took the pink-haired girl by the head and rubbed her face hard against the mud-covered floor, saying: "Now tell me who is the most beautiful girl around!"

Their team's leader held Árama back and helped the pink-haired girl up, as he covered her with a towel. But that was not the end of it, because Timmy went up to him, ready to strike him, but the guy defended himself and hit Timmy so hard that he was pushed backwards until he fell upon someone who was just sitting there watching the game: the young semi-elf's date.

Suddenly, a sandstorm had covered the place: the Professors had arrived. Fortunately for me, when the fight started I moved away from the volleyball field and sat next to Taltos... I know most of you would not understand why I said "fortunately", but, after what had happened during the Humanities class, I was sure that Professor Drake would be looking for any single excuse to kick me out of his class (or of the University) once and for good. If anything wrong came out of that fight, at least I would not be involved in it (I know it may sound selfish, but I am really not willing to leave the University until I become a firecaster).

Nothing much happened after the Professors arrived. Things settled down and the rest of the game was obviously cancelled. The wounded ones were sent to the infirmary (specially Yaashi, who had a lot of broken bones) and those who had gambled against us paid Taltos what they had gambled (the whole crowd had decided to say we actually won because Árama and Timmy gave a good fight)... Soon Taltos' video would become famous all around the University.

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Yeah, I know it sounds like the ending of a movie. I apologize for that: I didn't know how to end it up.

I hope you liked this chapter. Personally, I loved the first part. It was so deep, so creepy at a start, but so heartwarming, so beautiful at the end (actually, this is an improved version of what was said in the campaign... My boyfriend let me use a poem he had written -using song lyrics- for one of my stories)... I remember I felt bad when my DM-GM said we found the remaining piece of the painting on the floor, surrounded by dried red roses. If I had been the one to take it away I think I would have not done it. I just can't!

I warned you. The second part would be kind of a joke, but I hope you enjoyed it.

Poor Yaashi! When you get to meet him as the story goes on, you'll get to know why he has been declared our campaign's little Kenny (those who had ever seen South Park may have a small idea of what I mean).

Well, guess what? Next week I will bring you **"Intriguing Thoughts" (Bonus Chapter 2). **Something's bothering Sianodell... This conversation will drive much more questions up to Gea's mind. (Just place it after we leave the mansion, before we reach the University again).

And remember the following weekend's two chapters. Chapter 8 will be **"Happy Birthdays". **The ending of our University's festival and a _very special_ birthday celebration for Gea and Aramir.

**RRRRRRREEEEEEEVVVVVVVIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW,** please.

_Ruby._


	10. Bonus Chapter 2: Intriguing Thoughts

Hi! Yes, here I am once again with a bonus chapter for all of you. Once again, we invented this one while we were having a telephone conversation, but this one isn't as long as the first one... (don't blame us, we love to talk about what happened during that day's campaign and if I have a question about what had happened, I become Gea once again, and he becomes "know it all" Sianodell).

I hope you enjoy it!

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**Intriguing Thoughts**

**(Bonus Chapter 2)**

The boat moved slowly away from the island as we headed back to New Shanghai. I was just taking a walk around the ship's deck when I found Sianodell standing at the ship's prow, leaning against the handrail. He did not seem to have noticed that I was there, he just kept staring blankly ahead, with a worried look on his face.

-Hi- I said, as I approached him. –What is wrong? Are you alright?

-I was just thinking- he said. –There are many things I still do not understand from what happened back inside the mansion... Did you know that Talmios was that other vampire's disciple- I shook my head. –When he got into my mind to control it, I also got into his and I saw what he was thinking of... He was willing to redeem his master who, even after all the years that had passed from what had happened up until today, went back to that house to receive his punishment... I heard his master was begotten inside that house but, for some reason, he did not do the same with his girlfriend... He just repented about it when he was about to transform her and killed her immediately. Anyway, I could not tell any guilt in his face... It is strange, but I could swear his expression was that of rejoice- he took a deep breath. –It is also strange the way feelings change and why, even when the ghost said she hated him, she never destroyed him if she had many chances to do it.

-Maybe she did not hate him as much as she said... I do not know, maybe she did not hate him at all...

-Maybe you are right- he said, but he did not sound yet relieved. –I have heard about the Galanodell family; they belong to a pure vampire stock. You know? The interesting thing about vampires is that their darkness at least makes sense. Vampire spawns are tied up to blood lust and they are said to be turned into stone if they surpass the limit of the blood they can take... I have read some things about vampires and vampirism... it is said that it is some kind of sickness arising from a devil's blood. At a start, those vampires who bragged about their pure ancestry were destroyed; turned into stone for they gave up to blood lust... But some others have kept on their darkness path for centuries- he turned to stare back to where he was staring before we began to talk. –Maybe Galanodell was looking for some kind of redemption... though I cannot understand what kind of redemption he might get in his world.

-That is something I cannot tell, either... I guess we will never know.

-Do you remember those cameos we found back there at the mansion-he suddenly changed the subject. –They were actually brooches. If you look carefully at the painting, there are a few people who have one of them... Galanodell had one.

We finally reached New Shanghai. Our way to the airport was uncomfortably quiet... We just kept walking silently. A lot of scary questions were beginning to draw up in my mind...

-Mission accomplished- Sianodell said, as he sat down next to me in the plane that would take us back to the University. –The painting has been safely delivered.

-I still do not understand why they wanted it.

-Well, the Yakuza would not talk much... They just said they did not dare to go to that place because it was haunted. They actually wanted the painting since it is full of mysteries, specially concerning those brooches. How many cameos were inside the chest that we found in the house?

I carefully took the small chest out of my backpack and opened it, revealing its content.

-Six- I answered.

-There were seven in the painting- he said, as he looked at the cameos inside the chest. –The amethyst is missing... Did you know the amethyst is said to be the stone of darkness?

-But... where may it be? Do you think Galanodell kept it?

-I am not sure... Maybe- he lowered his voice a little bit. –Do you remember the last conversation we had? What I told you about a certain thing I was going to investigate?

-You mean that strange migration of celestials toward the Material Plane- I asked.

-I have been making some research about it... I have asked that celestial we found at the University to see what he could tell me about it. He said there is some kind of devil that is throwing them out of heaven... Their patriarch died and that gave rise to something I do not understand, but they have a name for it in their own language...

After a long silent minute, he smiled and looked at me:

–I wished we were back at the University, and maybe I could invite you for another teacup... I have good memories of that night.

-Thanks- was everything I could answer. Sometimes I really wondered if he meant what he said.

I looked out the window and remained that way for a couple of minutes... A terrible thought had been bothering me ever since we watched that shadow dance at the mansion and it began to bother me again when I began to talk to Sianodell back on the ship. That shadow that stood in the middle of the room and killed all the others... was it...?

-Is anything wrong- he asked, bringing me back to reality.

-I was just wondering about the shadow dance we watched when we were back in the mansion... Do you think the Kihlstrom family had something to do with the massacre that happened there?

-It is possible- he answered. –When you left me back there, Talmios returned, let my mind free and told me to get up there and help you... I had some time to examine the shadows and I saw your father's shadow... I know he is a Kihlstrom, you did not need to tell me- he said, as he saw the expression in my face. –But he was still too young... He could not have done it, which means you have more family than you have imagined.

-You are starting to scare me.

-You belong to a great stock- he said. He was not really helping to calm my fear down. –Thanatos Kihlstrom was the heir of the family's legacy... I heard he brought something beyond every possible imagination back from death. That was the reason why the king was overthrown... and getting to do it was not something easy. You know the king was not only respected for his political power. He was respected for the power he could control with one finger... the power that the greatest wizard would want.

-Interesting...

-It is also curious that of all the places he could have picked to build his mansion, Ian Strauss decided to build it upon the palace's ruins... But he did not destroy what was left of the palace. He literally built his mansion upon the ruins!

-What else can I tell you?... He's a strange man.

-Yes, I know. No one yet knows where and how he got that little fortune of his.

I smiled, but a single thought erased the smile from my face.

-I am also wondering... if there is any kind of relationship between Árama and that Galanodell vampire...

-I think there is much more than what we know- he answered. –You see... As far as I could see, that party took place during the Resurrection years... It was not so long ago. So, where did Árama come from? I have heard a lot of stories about her: The drow daughter of a living-dead- I felt a terrible shiver running down my spine. –Her story is very well known in those worlds ruled by darkness, but the secret of her existence is kept within the Kihlstrom family...

-Why does it always have to do with them- I asked in a low but very annoyed voice. I was really getting tired of listening to my family's "great" deeds.

-Well, they are also very famous down there- he said. –Everyone knows who the Kihlstroms are.

-Well, what a fame- it would be hard to calm me down from then on... you know my family is not my favorite conversation topic, specially now.

-Yes, I know. I should have said "not famous".

-Better say "negatively famous"... That is part of the reason why I do not carry their lastname.

-That is a shame- he said. –That could give you a few extra points in the underground.

-Well, maybe I do not want to have them- I answered, still angry. I swear that if I could get up and leave, I would definitely had.

-Think whatever you want to- he said in a low voice.

-What do you mean?

-That someday that darkness you hate so much _will_ take over you- he answered. I felt a shiver running down my spine... What did he mean? –It is like the flame you produce- he stated. –The flame you can produce right now is week and the shadow around it is big, but as you become more powerful, the flame will become larger, but so will happen to the darkness of the shadow around it. The question is: If you are given the chance to have such a power, will you resist the temptation?

-I do not know- I answered unsurely.

-Yes, I know it is a hard question and I would not even know what to do if I was asked the same question, but the answer resides in your conviction.

-All I know is that I do not want to be like them.

-That is good- he said, I could tell a little satisfied smile on his face. –That pathway can only bring you death... But look who's talking about death!

-What do you mean?

-Well, I am a Necromancer too- he stopped suddenly and corrected what he had just said-Well, not technically... But I know some stuff. Anyway, I cannot learn much more about it.

-You have already told me something about that... But I still do not understand why.

-I do not know... I just cannot- he answered. –My master told me so. He said that as I become stronger, it will be tougher for me to learn anything new, at least in magic (specially Necromancy)... Anyway, I am happy with what I have achieved up until now and what I have learned... it turns out practical sometimes.

Once again (like the first time we had this kind of conversation), I felt kind of sorry about him, but I tried to give him a comforting smile, though I do not know if it worked...

I really did not know how he had achieved it, but he was getting to have me changing my mind about him... I had begun to feel some kind of sympathy toward him, though I know I did not like him at a start... He even made me worry about him in a way I would have never thought I could!

But there was still something about him... so many things, so many secrets, and I still did not know how much of what he said I could believe...

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Wow! I'm finished with my tenth chapter! I cannot believe it! I'm so happy! And finally, a short chapter!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review to tell me what you think about it (specially what you think about my little couple Gea-Aramir, though I know she's still a little too distrustful about him). Ah, and this time don't worry, Bahamut, you can read it...

I'm sorry, but next week I will only give you one chapter. Today we did not have our usual Thursday campaign because my boyfriend is working on the party he's planning for next Saturday, so you'll only get chapter eight.

Ok, that's all! Please review!

_Ruby._


	11. Chapter 8: Happy Birthdays

Hi!

Here I come with a new chapter... The only one I'm going to give you this week. **MY BIRTHDAY'S SPECIAL EDITION! CHII! **Strange chapter, indeed. It has been divided into several parts, since several things happened... While ones were doing something, others were doing something else.

Once again, you are going to meet an old character from one of our previous campaigns, though this time things turned out a little bit different from the last time he appeared.

But, first of all I would like to thank those good friends who always support my story:

**DemonDragonJ: **Hey! I was starting to think you have forgotten about me! Buju! Anyway, it is good to see you're still reading!

Wow! Do I really use a descriptive, vivid language? I have always thought my descriptions are awful! But I think I have improved them, specially at the very ending of chapter 6 and beginning of chapter 7 (chapters 8 and 9 in the web)...

I hope you keep your story going! I am really waiting to see what is going to happen! Hey, don't worry about that! I just hope you keep your promise to be nicer to Kisara.

Anyway, I would like to know what you think about what happened in the Shian mansion and my special bonus chapters... specially about the little couple we're beginning to form between Sianodell and Gea. Keep on reading! And don't get lost for so long!

**S. Black Sanders: **Hey, girl! Not to worry, you'll get the document soon (and I also hope to get that image soon enough. We need it)... The celebration was great! I hadn't had such fun on one of my birthdays for years! Though I cannot get in many of those games... I cannot spin round myself because I get dizzy. But you should try The Tower. It's incredible!

I just hope we can get those three subjects together so our story can keep on going... Not only for Altair and Jared's sake, but for Deneb, Rigel, Vega, Antares, Kira, Darien, Andrómeda, dead queen Dana, dead king Alderabán, the witch, the dark knights, the 4 wise old people, Craig, Irieth, Bellatrix, and all the Reichis, Darkeheirs and Litkendians, too... I apologize if there is anyone missing.

Now, here we go with chapter 8. I hope you enjoy it!

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**Chapter 8: Happy Birthdays.**

Now that our little volleyball match was finally over, we had a little more time to enjoy the festival.

It was about 6:30 p.m. I was just wandering around the fair when Sianodell came to me and said:

-The karaoke contest begins at 7 o'clock- he told me. –But- he lowered his voice. –If you _really_ want to have fun, the real games begin at 8:30 o'clock behind the gym. Hope to see you there!

He left... Said he had something important to do and went away.

Anyway, I spent another half an hour walking about the fair until it was time for the karaoke. Many people had decided to participate in the contest... I even found that Taltos and Bahamut were also going to participate!

I really enjoyed myself during the contest... I did not win anything, though (had a little trouble with my song), but I had a lot of fun listening to those great singers, those who had a little trouble with the songs they sang and those who had just entered the contest to have fun and give all the others a laugh.

As soon as the karaoke contest was over (around 8:25), I walked over to the gym. I must say I was curious about what Sianodell had told me, so I went to have a look. But I was not the only one heading that way... the whole party was also walking that way, as well as many other University and High-School students.

A very large shadow dome extended behind the gym. Everything was dark... yet the dome's inside was very different from what anyone could have imagined from the outside... It was a large field, just like a football field, surrounded by flights of steps and very well illuminated indeed.

It was until Mr. Strauss spoke that we understood what it was all about:

-Welcome to this year's festival's closing activity. This is a special activity for those who have special abilities to practice with them. These are the rules: There are going to be two teams: one made up by the teachers, the other made up by students. One person from each team will be carrying a flag. The first team to get the other team's flag will be the winner. Obviously, each team will have to do whatever they can to stop the members of the other team from getting close to the one who carries their flag. That is why we have called this game "Everything's Valid", though there are some exceptions: First of all, no sharp-cutting weapons are allowed. Second, each movement you make will be on the intent to stop the other team; which means you are allowed to stun them, but never kill them- he made a brief pause. –To make things fair, I will be on the students' side. Now, let the game begin!

The game began and each team started to make their best to get to the other side of the field, where the flag bearers stood. Our flag bearer was Mr. Strauss; the teachers' team flag bearer was Professor Drake.

Things were not going to turn out easy... specially after that dust barrier appeared between our team and the other, just in the middle of the field. But the dust suddenly settled down in a great quagmire, since the semi-elf's classmate, Yayoi, used her watercaster skills to create a small amount of rain to make it happen.

We tried to keep on our way to get the flag, but they were too strong and got to hold us back. There was only one way to keep them away from out team's flag and out of our way, and Árama had the answer: She performed an Entangle spell and left half of the teachers trapped within tangleweed. But there were still many others blocking our way. If we wanted to get to help the others, we had to stop the other teachers, and that was a particularly difficult task, specially now that another dust storm was blinding us again. On the other side of the field, Bahamut and Timmy were having a lot of trouble with the firewall that surrounded Professor Drake.

-I have an idea- a familiar voice said. It was the young man we had met when we were in New Shanghai. –But I need your help- he told Árama.

His plan was basically to send a group of small animals into some kind of kamikaze attack, carrying a small amount of a powerful explosive (A/N: Sorry for those animal lovers like me, but that guy really likes to blow things up). I was sure Árama was not going to accept that; she was a druid after all.

-Ok- she answered against what I had thought. –But if you want to blow up any animal, it would rather be a cat. (A/N: Sorry for those cat lovers, but Árama has really got a special phobia to cats).

Incredibly, his plan _did _work. Árama casted her spell and several kittens came to her. The young man put a small amount of explosive substance on each of them and the animals set up for the attack... and they blew up, leaving the floor and many people covered in blood and guts, but also leaving an open path to reach Professor Drake. There was when things got difficult... He created a firewall around himself whenever we tried to reach for the flag.

Árama tried and Invisibility spell so he would not notice her when she got close to him, but something did not go completely fine and her clothes were still visible. So, she decided to take her clothes off ("No one is going to notice, anyway" she said)... That is how we went past the firewall, and began to fight face-to-face, but Professor Drake was still too strong... It was our new companion who finally got to take the flag away from him with a swift, fast, strong movement.

That marked the ending of the University's sports and cultural festival... That, and Árama's reappearance, wearing our new companion's coat, since Timmy stole her clothes before she could reach back for them... And, obviously, Taltos' videos gave both Taltos and Árama some good profits when they sold them (A/N: They both made a deal: they would split the profits 50-50).

It was a little late when we got to our room that night. Anyway, we were preparing to get to bed when someone slid a letter under our door. It was a letter for me... a letter from Sianodell.

Now that I thought about it, I did not recall seeing him during the second half of the game, though he had been with us when it began. I opened the letter immediately and read:

_Gea:_

_I apologize for the way in which I had to leave, not even making sure if you got this... but I have got very important things to do. That is the reason why I am going to be absent for a couple of days._

_I also want to invite you for a special party I am planning for next Saturday. Everything is already settled and your plane tickets are attached to this letter..._

I opened the other small envelope and found a pair for plane tickets: Von Frederich University-Mexico, Mexico-Von Frederich University. Then, I turned back to the letter:  
_I will be waiting to see you again next Saturday._  
_Aramir._

°°°

It was still very early in the morning when someone knocked the door. It was a guy from a flower shop, and he was carrying a pair of dozens of roses: a dozen of black roses for Árama and a dozen of white roses for me. They had been sent by Kaworu Agata, the young man we had met in New Shanghai.

I honestly never thought he would be doing something like that but maybe he was trying to make it up for the bad impression he might have caused the first time we met. (A/N: Actually, I still don't know why he decided to send roses to all the girls in the party, since Mashauri also got a dozen of pink roses from him).

Anyway, it would have been a nice day if I did not have to study that much and had that much homework. That is why I had to stay in the room almost all day long (except for the while I decided to go out for a walk around the gardens –after I bought something for Sianodell, my birthday twin- and saw Kaworu fighting against a High-School student... He's got a really strange symbol tattooed in his chest, I am curious to find out what it means).

Árama, on the other hand, had gone out for a walk and returned a while later just to change clothes and fix her makeup to go out again.

-Got a date- Vanessa asked her before she went out again.

-Sort of- Árama answered. –I am going to flirt with a guy I met before we came here. He is a nice, red-haired elf, who always wears blue clothes.

I could not help to let out a small giggle. I could not believe she really liked that guy!

-And... does your friend have any friends you can introduce me to- Vanessa asked again.

-I do not know... Well, there is a guy... one of his teammates: another red-haired guy who likes to dress in red. You can meet him if you come down with me.

-I do not know... I think I am going to stay here. Got loads of things to do.

So, Árama went out again, while Vanessa and I stayed there, working on all the stuff we had to have ready for the next week.

Suddenly, as my eyes wandered once again over the essay I had to deliver for Humanities' Arcane Arts, I could not help to remember the horrible incident that happened during our first class... But I also realized that I was sitting in the same room as someone who could maybe help me to control the horrible curse upon me.

-Vanessa... may I ask you a question?

-Of course. What is it, Gea?

-I remember you once told us that you are studying the Dark Arts...- I made a brief pause. I still did not know how I was going to ask her what I wanted. –I suppose you remember our first Humanities class, when I almost got kicked out from the class for a certain spell that made four girls run away from the class...

-Yes- she answered. –That was a great display of a Cause Fear spell. I still cannot manage to do something as great as that- for some reason, she sounded really excited about it. –I wonder if you can teach me how to do it!

-Well... that is what I wanted to talk to you about... I cannot control it and I am really getting tired of that. What I want to ask you is... if you could please help me to control it.

-I am sorry- she answered. –But I cannot do that... I am still learning how to control my own power and I do not think I will be able to help you... But I know someone who can help you: Ian Strauss. He has helped me very much with my own powers; maybe he can help you, too!

-Really?

-Yes. He is a very busy man, and he only comes to Elizabeth campus for very special occasions, but maybe I can get you an interview with him...

-Thank you _so_ much. I would really appreciate it!

We kept on with our works until a great explosion sounded not so far away from our building. I looked out the window and saw a giant robot (like the one we had fought a few days ago, but a little bit smaller) running across the school fields, followed by Bahamut, Taltos, Timmy, Kaworu and a girl I had never seen around the campus before.

I could not understand much of what was happening down there, since there were explosions everywhere around the robot (A/N: Though they were told not to destroy the mecha, Kaworu kept throwing shurikens with small amounts of C-4 at it)...

Finally, the robot stopped... Strange place to stop, indeed... If my reckoning was correct, it had just stopped in front of Taco Bell... Actually, I was right. It suddenly blew the restaurant's ceiling up and took something away from it as several food products were thrown everywhere around...

I still do not understand how but, as suddenly as it had begun, it was finally over... As far as I could see, Taltos did something that stopped the robot for good. (A/N: I know you may not understand this part, so I'm going to explain it at the end of the chapter... Sorry about that but, as you can see, I wasn't supposed to be there... Actually, I wouldn't be supposed to write this part, but I did).

°°° (A few minutes later)

(A/N: Specially for you, Bahamut! I may have made up a little bit, but I hope you like it, though it is a little bit short)

Someone was knocking on our door again. Vanessa got up and went to see who it was...

-Hi- I heard her say, though I could not see who was standing behind the door. –You are one of my roommates' friends, are you not? Gea is here, if you want to talk to her...

-N..no- the person at the door answered. Was it Bahamut? –I just came to... flowers...

-Are they for me? Really? Thank you- she reentered the room with a small bunch of flowers and then went out again.

-I was... wondering if... you wanted to go out with me.

-Sure, why not- she answered. –I am kind of hungry right now... And I would really like a taco. How about Taco Bell?

-Er... I think we would rather go somewhere else... Taco Bell is closed right now- I heard him say as she closed the door behind her back, leaving me completely alone.

°°° (Saturday, January the 29th)

The sun was shinning high up in the sky, but it was not hot, though. There was a soft, fresh breeze running through the atmosphere. Nice day to turn two hundred and sixteen.

Bahamut, Timmy (who had got horns and a tail overnight) and I took the plane that would take us up to Mexico. Kaworu, the young semi-elf and her friend Yaashi (who did not seem very happy) decided to take another plane (A/N: a private jet, actually). Taltos stayed in the University; said he had something to do (guiding the girl I had seen through the window the day before around the University). Árama was nowhere to be found.

When the plane finally landed, my mother and Sianodell were already waiting for us in front of an Amusement Park: Mundo Feliz. It was just like the fair that had been settled for the University's festival, but larger, filled with music, attractions, games... Great place, definitely.

The park's pathways suddenly became crowded: music and color filled the place as a large parade passed by with its musicians, allegoric cars and costumes (one of which –a purple dinosaur with green spots... I think he is called Barney- suffered an "unfortunate accident" when Timmy hit it with his horns, leaving the costume with a pair of holes in its back part...). (A/N: Yes! He achieved what we had always wanted: torture Barney! Actually, we want to kill him, but we didn't achieve that).

When the parade had already passed, we headed to a building at the west side of the park. It was a large hall, specially decorated with red roses and illuminated by several fire spheres. Many of my closest relatives and my mother's friends were also there. I really did not think I was going to get a birthday celebration like that one.

Then, for the first time, I realized something: Sianodell looked terrible that day! His clothes were torn, mud and blood stained, and his skin revealed several wounds and scratches.

-What happened to you? Are you alright- I asked him.

-I am Ok- he answered. –I just had to go through a lot of things to get your birthday present.

-Why don't you open it now- my mother asked and handed me a small box.

The tag in the box told me it was not just Sianodell's present; it was also my mother's present. I opened it immediately and found a small crystal stone with a small flame inside.

-This is a fire stone- my mother told me. –With this you can begin to cast powerful flames, but you can also alter the atmosphere around you.

Wow! Great gift! I could not believe it!

Anyway, that was not the only gift I got that day: Kaworu called me and gave me a single rose and a large warning: "Do not get it close to burning fire, do not let it fall or hit it too hard. I made that rose with a very powerful explosive. If you are not careful enough, you will unleash a chain reaction that will blow Mexico up". Mashauri, the young semi-elf, gave me the cutest thing I had ever seen: a large teddy bear wearing a bow tie and a hat... She had already named him Mr. Teddy Bear (A/N: Yeah, I know. Quite original name. Ain't my fault: I _love_ teddy bears). Bahamut gave me a tape recorder (A/N: Very useful. He knows that's exactly what I need right now) and Timmy... Well, he gave me a souvenir he got from one of the small shops in the park (sort of a baseball cap with a pair of clapping hands on top of it). (A/N: Yeah, I know, that's the most original gift I had ever got, though I did not get it really).

While I opened my presents, at the other end of the room, Mashauri handed Sianodell his birthday present.

-From: Ma... Mashau... Mashauri- he read out loud. –You have a terrible calligraphy, Achu! But thank you.

I could not help to smile. He looked just as excited as a little kid when he gets a Christmas present... Well, I guess I was the only one who understood why, since he had never had much of a birthday gift before.

There was a sudden explosion at the other end of the hall. A smoke cloud filled the place. As it settled down, the nice scene I told you about had changed completely. Yaashi had been thrown against a wall and laid unconscious on the floor. Mashauri was laughing out loud and Sianodell, whose clothes were now almost completely torn and was completely covered with ashes (some of his wounds bleeding again), was looking at her with his eyes filled with anger as he walked toward her, beginning to draw out his flaming sword.

Kaworu tried to defend the young girl, but Sianodell said a single word in a language I could not understand, made some gestures with his hands and, a few seconds later, Kaworu had left the hall, running as fast as he could (A/N: Sianodell infected him with diarrhoea).

Sianodell would not let anyone stand in his way, I knew that. He was too stubborn, and Mashauri had hurt him so, he would have his revenge.

Anyway, I ran over to them and stood in his way before he attacked the semi-elf. He rapidly sheathed his sword again and looked at me, still angry.

-I am sorry- I told him. –But I once told you: to kill her you should have to get through me first.

He did not answer. He just walked away from the hall.

He returned a while later; talking to Kaworu (apparently apologizing for what he had done), who had borrowed him some clothes to wear.

-Sianodell- I said, as I approached him. –I apologize for what I did, but I...

-You did what you thought you had to do- he answered. –I also have to apologize... I just could not control my own anger.

-I know. I... brought you something- I told him, as I gave him what I had bought the day before.

-Great- he said as he took the knife out of the box and unsheathed it. –A Tanto was exactly what I needed to get my collection complete- he fastened the knife to his belt, at the opposite side from the one in which he kept his two swords. Then, he took my hands. –I would like you to come with me. There is a game I want us to try together.

I followed him across the park until we reached the Horror House. Was _that_ the game he wanted to try with me?

We got in and had a great time but the small cart in which we were suddenly stopped in the middle of the ride. There seemed to be no one around and it would take some time for someone to make the game start again.

-Gea, I really apologize for what I am going to do... Your father is willing to see you and I... Well, I arranged a meeting here. I really hope you forgive me- he got off the cart. –Do not worry. I will be back in... five minutes.

-What? Oh, no. You cannot just leave me here!

Too late. He went away, running with an incredible speed.

I was definitely not going to stay there! I did not know what Sianodell was thinking of, but I was not going to stay there to see my father. He was the last person I wanted to see that day.

I was about to get up when I felt a hand running down my hair. I turned slowly around, feeling a terrible shiver running down my spine. There he was: my father, Aust Donnodel... Achernar Kihlstrom, I mean, but I had only met him as Aust Donnodel; I had never seen what he really looked like.

-Happy birthday, my dear Gea- he told me, as soon as I had faced him.

-Why don't you show yourself as you really are- I asked angrily. –I think I deserve that at least!

-I really should not do this for my own safety, but I will...

A great shadow covered him and, seconds later, I found myself sitting beside a very tall, short-haired dark elf. The shiver running down my spine began to grow in intensity.

-Is there something you want to ask me, Gea?

Hundreds of different questions ran through my mind, but the most important one was the one I had been asking myself for years:

-I always wanted to know...Why did you have to choose precisely her, when there were so many other women in the world?

-Siren is an amazing person- he answered. –She is powerful, she is smart, she is beautiful, she is sexy... It took quite some time for her to get to trust me but it was certainly worth it: I really loved her, and she knew how to make me happy.

-Why don't I believe you?

-You are perspicacious...- he said, and he made a large black fire sphere appear in one of his hands. –Impressive, is it not? Do you know what this is- I shook my head, as he made the sphere disappear. –Hell's Black Fire: One of the most powerful fires that can be casted- I remembered that. Sianodell had told me about it once. –But, I still cannot control it... I needed a firecaster to manage to get it, and Siren was precisely what I was looking for: a very strong and prodigious firecaster... Though it took quite some time for her to accept the power I had offered her...

-Then, you just used her- I interrupted him, angrily.

-Technically speaking... Yes, I did- he answered. –But that does not mean that I did not get to love her... and that it did not hurt me when she decided to leave my side- he made a brief pause. –Have you got with you the stone she gave you a while ago?

-Yes- I took the stone out of my pocket. –What for?

-I just want to borrow it for a while- I looked at him suspiciously. –I want to give you a birthday present, too.

With my hand trembling a little bit (a little bit? I mean a lot!), I handed him the stone... What was I doing? I still do not understand what I did when I was so angry with him for what he had said about my mother... But he had been honest, at least.

Once again, the black fire sphere appeared in his hand and, I do not know how, he kind of inserted it inside the stone. The crystalline stone suddenly lost all the brightness of the flame that used to shine inside it, which had been momentarily substituted by a small black flame. Suddenly, the black flame disappeared and led the small dim light back.

-There you go- he said, as he handed the stone back to me. –Anyway- he suddenly turned back to the topic he had been talking about before. –I think things are better the way they are now... She is much better now than she would have been if she had stayed with me... I will have to be gone soon. Is there something else you want to talk about?

-There is something... my curse...?

-The curse...- he said, and stood quiet for a long while. –Well, our curse is very special.

-Wait a minute- I said, a little confused. –**_Our_** curse?

-Yes. _Our _curse- he remarked. –Maybe someday you will understand what it is about... Necromancers like us have the gift to play with death, but death also plays with us...- he gave me a strange look, I could tell it was kind of sad. –You are still young and, if you keep on studying and becoming stronger as a firecaster, you may find a way to beat it... But my time is almost over and there was not much I could achieve- he got up. –I have to go now. I am sorry if I had to do all this to get to see you, but your mother would not let me close to you... It is also more safe this way- he kissed my forehead. –Happy birthday, my dear Gea.

Once again, as he had done all the times I had seen him before, he turned into some kind of shadow and disappeared immediately.

I took a deep breath and waited, sitting there, for my fear to drop a little bit so I could walk out of that place.

-Gea- my mother entered running, followed closely by Professor Drake (A/N: what the hell was he doing there? Please, don't ask me because I don't know). I had never seen her so angry... high burning flames surrounded her whole silhouette. –You were with him, right- she asked, her voice filled with anger. –I know your father is around here! Where is he?

-He was, but he has already left- I answered... my mother can get pretty scary sometimes.

-Are you alright- she asked, slowly calming down.

-So, I see I was not mistaken and _she_ is really your daughter, Siren- Professor Drake said, as he gave both my mother and I a terrible, piercing look. Then, he left the place.

-Come on- my mother told me. –Let's get out of here.

-Mother? May I ask you something about that man?

-Well, Julian used to belong to the Fire Circle, too.

-That is what I have heard- I said. –I met him at the University, but I could not understand why he seemed to hate me so much.

-He was kind of... in love with me- she said, a strange smile crossing her face. –He was obviously not happy when I got involved with your father... and least of all when we had you. He got too foolish and got himself kicked out from the Fire Circle so, he began to dedicate full time to his part time job at the University. I am really sorry that you had to meet him that way...

As soon as we went out of the Horror House, we found Sianodell, who was about to enter it again. He took one of my mother's hands, knelt before her and apologized for what he had done.

-I should not forgive you for what you have done- she answered angrily, making a fireball appear in one of her hands. –But I will- the fireball lowered down and disappeared. –Do something like that ever again without my permission and I am going to fry you up!

°°°

The night had already fallen over the park when we took the plane back to the University (just after we watched the fireworks).

Sianodell and I were not the only ones who had got gifts that day, after all. Apparently, Mashauri had got a pair of fur animals from Kaworu, which did not make Yaashi very happy... I think even Vanessa got something from Bahamut when we returned, and I think they even got to have a second date...

As for myself, I had a lot of time to think about what I had talked with my father... Specially after the conversation I had with Sianodell while we were on the plane back, though, as he always did, he filled my head with much more questions. Why did I talk to him after what he had done?

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Sorry for the terrible way in which I ended this chapter... I am starting to think I am running out of ideas for chapter endings.

Now, about that explanation I had promised you:

Árama went to see the blue Sentai Member, but her date did not get any lucky... Timmy ended up leaving him unconscious after a fight they had... you must suppose she as not very happy after that happened.

The Sentai Members had been guarding the hangar from which the mecha came out. Taltos had been sent to work there with Dita, a young woman who worked for the government. The mecha suddenly walked out the hangar by itself and started making its way back to where it was built, in Japan, but it had also been infected by a computer virus (named Nacho) which made it stop when it reached Taco Bell, looking for nachos (I know it sounds stupid, but that's what those viruses do. Last year, during one campaign, my party had a lot of trouble when one giant robot –a member of our party- got infected with the virus named Taco). Anyway, when the robot was stopped for good, was because Taltos found a way to also infect its main computer with the Taco Virus so, the robot just shut itself off when it could not deal with all the tasks it had to complete (return to Japan, get nachos and tacos)...

I hope you understood something of what I just wrote... Still complicated, though.

Anyway, thank you for reading. Keep on reading and reviewing! (You know I love that)...

Next weekend I will bring you **"What About...?" (Bonus Chapter #3). **Someone owes Gea an apology... Interesting facts about love, life and death.

And... for the week after: **"Terrorist Attacks". **Things can get a lot more complicated when a mercenary with a very strange sense of humor steals University's property and gets us involved in the middle of a battle against the government.

Ok. That's all.

_Ruby._


	12. Bonus Chapter 3: What About?

Wow! I am really impressed by the way in which this story grows! 12 chapters already! And there are5 more waiting to be finished and delivered!

Anyway, it is a real shame to inform you that our Thursday campaigns will have to be cancelled, at least until this semester ends (we begin classes on February the 28th), since must of us are busy on Thursdays. I have got classes from 8 to 10, from 1 to 4 and choir rehearsal from 6 to 9 (no time at all).

But... I will be hoping to start a new story during this semester.

Thanks for your support!

Now, let's begin with what brought us here today: (I apologize if I wrote any term here the wrong way... I am not used to Japanese words).

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**What about...?**

**(Bonus Chapter #3)**

I sat beside the window and looked out as the plane began to move... It had definitely been a great birthday celebration! But, for some reason, what I could not take out of my head was the thing I would otherwise want to forget about: the short conversation I had had with my father... And why did Sianodell have to betray me when he knew what I thought about my father?

Gea... may I talk to you- I heard Sianodell ask, he was now sitting beside me. I nodded, but did not look at him directly. –I want you to forgive me for what I did... But I was forced to!

You do not have to apologize- I told him. –It is not like you are his servant and you did it because he commanded you to. That would be the only thing I would not forgive!

It is a laughable thing to think, though- he said, with a strange sort of smile. –Did you like your birthday present- I nodded. I was still not in the mood for a chat. –When I went away from the University was because I had found out that I could find the fire crystal at the Earth Continent. The zone is filled with dark dwarves... pretty good fighters, dark dwarves. I got to get the crystal, but I had to fight to get it. To get to make the fire stone, I had some help from your mother and another sorcerer- he took a deep breath. –She has a great control of fire.

I know- I answered. –I have always admired her very much. That is why she had always been my model, I want to be a firecaster like her, you know?

Yes- he said. –May I ask you what you and your father talked about?

I asked him why he had chosen my mother- he seemed very interested in what my father had answered. –He said she is an amazing person: powerful, smart, beautiful, sexy... Then, he said that he really loved her, and she knew how to make him happy... But I would obviously not believe that and he admitted that he had used her to get what he wanted... Though it took quite some time for her to accept the power he had offered her...

Yes, I know... The Kihlstroms have always been troublesome- he said. –I have heard that their clan fell when the Resurrection years ended. It is been almost a hundred years since someone heard something from the Kihlstrom leader. But that leader was not your father... Do you know something about your grandparents?

No- I answered as I shook my head. –I have only met my mother's parents...

And... what are they like?

Well, my grandmother is also a powerful firecaster, though I think my mother is much more powerful than she is... My grandfather is also a firecaster, but not as powerful as my grandmother.

So... I guess being such a powerful firecaster is something carried within your genes... specially the "X" chromosome- he suddenly changed the subject. –How did the game end back at the University?... I had to leave early. That was precisely when I discovered where I could find the stone.

We won- I answered. –Kaworu finally got to take the flag away from Professor Drake- I smiled kind of mischievously. –I have noticed he has a really strange kind of relationship with the young girl.

I thought I was the only one who had noticed that- he said with a smile. –So many details, so much attention. It is strange... What else did you and your father talked about- why did he have to bring the subject back, when I thought the topic was already over?

I told him to show himself as he really is...

And he did it- he asked, impressed. –What does he look like?

Well, you know he is a dark elf, too. He is tall, very tall. He has got dark eyes and short hair...

I hesitated for a short while. Should I tell him about...?

Do you remember when you told me about Hell's Black Fire- he nodded. –He showed it to me.

He managed to control it- he asked. He did sound impressed and I could tell some fear on his face.

He possesses it, but he cannot control it. That is what he needed my mother for. Actually- I took the fire stone out of my pocket. –He gave me a small part of it as his birthday present.

May I borrow it for a while- he asked.

I hesitated a little bit, but handed him the stone.

Now, be careful because things are going to get hot around here- he warned.

And so it was. The temperature began to raise inside the plane, but it dropped immediately back to normal.

It is strange- he said. –I do not perceive any difference. Perhaps it takes a real, experimented firecaster to get to use it... This stone is indeed a very practical gift- he handed me the stone back. –You have heard what you can do with it, but you also have to be very careful with it. If it gets out of control, it can burn you, even if you wore gloves for safety.

We remained silent for another moment. Once again I doubted how much I could tell him.

I also asked him about the curse... But he did not say much about it. He just said it was _our_ curse and that maybe I could find a way to beat it, but that his time is almost over and there was not much he could achieve. I still cannot understand what he meant with that... Now that I think about it, he told me something I had already heard before... He said necromancers have the gift to play with death, but death also plays with them.

That is a very common way to refer to what necromancers do...

I have decided to ask for help to control my Necromancy...- I said aftera while.

That is great- he said. –Just what you should have done from the start. Who is going to help you?

Well, my roommate, Vanessa, I do not know if you have met her... She said she would get me an interview with Mr. Strauss. I really hope he can help me.

Yes... I think I saw your roommate during the Christmas dinner we had with Mr. Strauss... Black eyes; short, black hair; dressed in purple- I nodded. –Seems like they are somehow related...

He took one of my hands and gently touched his cheek with it. I suddenly felt the horrible feeling of that strange energy running through my body and small pain in my lower abdomen that slowly began to grow. I could hear Sianodell scream as I tried to get my hand off his face.

What do you think you are doing- I asked him as I moved a little bit away from him... That had really scared me. –Why did you do that?

I just wanted to show you... A spell is something you have to summon and learn to control. That one you just did was a Death Touch... Not a very powerful one, though. If you had been powerful enough, you could have killed me... But it really hurts.

I am sorry... I am really sorry- I said, still scared. –I... I do not want it! I do not want to hurt anybody as I did with you.

Then you cannot get to control it... It is the same with the Cause Fear spell: You have to accept and understand it in order to control it- he began to explain. –As I told you before... the Death Touch depends on how powerful you are, but you can only use it once a day. Cause Fear affects people's minds, depending on the person, it usually works better on weak people... It usually works in short distances and its effect lasts around forty seconds... All you have to do is to learn the verbal and somatic components of the spell. Once you get to control them, they turn out very practical spells... Take for example what I did to Kaworu this afternoon- I laughed. –That guy must belong to some secret organization.

How would you say so?

How does he get so many explosives then?

I do not know- I said as I took the rose Kaworu had given me from the box in which I had safely kept it. –He even made this with an explosive substance.

I could tell some kind of fear in his face as he stared at the rose... It was obvious, though. He would not want to know anything about explosive things close to him after what had happened with the ring Mashauri had given him. I put the rose away, then.

How...- I did not know how to ask that so, I stood quiet for a while. –How did my father contact you?

Well, I was around the Earth Continent, making some deals, when he passed by and recognized me. He asked me what I was looking for so, I told him I was looking for a fire crystal. We talked for a while and he gave me a clue of where to find what I was looking for... When he asked me what I wanted the fire crystal for and I said it was to make a fire stone for you, he asked me to help him contact you- I looked at him suspiciously... and he accepted just like that- I was obviously not going to help him, for I know what you think about him, but he has his means to get what he wants. The small place in which we were suddenly turned dark, though it was broad daylight outside. Somehow I could still see him and myself among the shadows... He has got control not only above death but above shadows, also. That can be really intimidating- he admitted. –But your mother can get really intimidating, too... She has an infernal temper. She could have fried me up! And then, of course, I would have had to make her sick in self-defense- he leaned his head against the seat's back. –They are both very powerful. It would be interesting to see a fight between the both of them!

I gave him a piercing look. I definitely did not like to think about that possibility... What would happen if it became true? I would definitely not want to see them fight. What if she lost? Would she get killed? No... I definitely did not like to think about that possibility.

But... If he had not intimidated you, would you still have helped him?

I have a very sharp eye to detect intentions- he said. –I could tell he did not want to hurt you... He just wanted to see you. Look...- he looked deep into my eyes. –I did it to try to help you, my intention was never to betray you... I would never, ever, betray you. I would even give my life for you if it meant something to you- I opened my eyes widely. What did he mean? –Would you take my life?

I...- I could not continue. What was I supposed to answer? –I... You know I do not get along with anything that means death...

Yes, I know- he said with a smile. –I do not know... I love the romantic part of death... Besides, if you have lived a decent life, you will have a decent death but, if while you live you fall into shame, you will have a painful death... I am not lying: I would really give my life for you, and I would suffer a lot if you died and I knew I could not protect you: that is a lesson of life. Just like what happened between samurais in Japan when one of them fell into dishonor...- I could tell he had a special admiration for that culture in which he had been trained. –There is a ritual suicide for those who feel they have fell in dishonor and want to recover their honor (their family's honor, as well). It is called Sepuku.

He took out the knife I had given him and showed me what it was about. Apparently, the person had to make a deep horizontal cut in his stomach and bleed to death. It was a really slow and painful death.

But that is when the Kaishaku appears- he said. –The Kaishaku's job is to stop the pain. He or she has to make an incomplete decapitation... Incomplete, because he has to keep part of the head attached to the body, because, if the head was completely cut off and touched the ground, it would symbolize the suicide's dishonor. There is a special kata for that, perhaps I can teach it to you. Anyway, that is also a lesson of life: do everything that is necessary to stop the suffering. I am now wondering... if I decided to kill myself that way, would you assist me?

What- I asked, very scared. Did he really know what he was asking me? –No. I do not think I could... Would you really do it?

If I fell into dishonor, yes, I would.

You are really scaring me- I told him.

Fear only comes when you do not know what lies beyond... That is why we have to overcome everything, don't you think- he said. He always had that ability to keep me thinking about the things he said: so deep and meaningful sometimes but sometimes so difficult to understand. –That is what makes us different from the living deads. We have an essence, they do not. Take vampires, for example. Their essence is merely parasitical... that is the reason of their sadism, which may be considered interesting and horrifying at the same time. Tell me- he changed the subject once again. –What else happened when I was away from the University?

I told him everything that had happened while he was absent: the detailed ending of the game; Árama dating the blue Sentai Member; the strange scene with the giant robot that I watched from my room's window, Bahamut and Vanessa...

I have also got some information about those cameos we found in that mansion- he told me a while after I had finished the recount of what had happened during his absence. –They were used as a key and a ritual to get a legendary object- he looked seriously at me. –You should be very careful with that if you still have them all... the Kihlstroms were involved in that ritual... I still think the painting encloses much more mysteries... perhaps I should give the copy of it to Taltos for him to investigate it.

A few minutes later, we had reached the University.

I... want to thank you for what you did for me- I said as we walked back to our respective buildings. –I had a great time today.

You are welcome- he answered. –I heard about this place a few days ago ("rebuilt to resemble those amusement parks that used to exist on Earth before the fusion") and I thought you would like to have a good time in a different place for a change- we finally reached my building. –Good night, Gea.

Good night.

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Isn't this couple cute?

Yes, I know Aramir can get a little scary and philosophical sometimes, but he's nice... Gives you things to think about.

Anyway, tell me what you think about it. I like to see what you think about my chapters, specially my bonus chapters. (That means: please **RRREEEVVVIIIEEEWWW**).

Bye, bye.

_Ruby._


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